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WORLD  WAR 

AT 

ITS  CLIMAX 

Being  Personal 

Imprints  of  the  Great  Conflict 

and  Close  up  Glimpse 

of  the 

World  Tragedy 


V^    '» 


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PRINTED  BY 

THE  ROYCROFTERS 

EAST  AURORA 

N.  Y. 


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COPYRIGHT,  192? 

BY 

EDWARD  H.  OHARA 

SYRACUSE,  N.  Y. 


To 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  O'HARA 

(My  Son) 

Who  volunteered  to  follow  the  Stars 
and  Stripes,  performing  his  full  part 
in  the  hazardous  work  of  a  machine 
gun  battalion  in  Flanders  fields  and 
France,  escaping  unhurt,  this  narra- 
tive is  dedicated  with  a  heart 
full  of  gratitude  for  his 
deliverance.  THE 
NARRATOR 


Of  this  edition 

World  War  At  Its  Climax 

there  are  printed 

Five    Hundred    Copies 

for  private 

circulation 

This  book  is 

number 


31'* 


? 


Foreword 

[N  NARRATING  or  portraying  his  un- 
usual experiences  in  the  thrilling  scenes 
of  1918  which  marked  a  momentous  and 
notable  journey  by  twelve  newspaper 
men  under  most  favorable  auspices  and 
the  escort  of  the  British  Government,  the 
writer  does  not  attempt  to  dignify  his 
production  by  calling  it  a  book  or  himself  an  author.  Nor 
has  he  the  vanity  to  predict  for  it  general  circulation  or 
currency.  Not  for  one  moment  does  he  harbor  the  thought 
that  untold  thousands  avidly  await  its  appearance,  antici- 
pating that  it  is  to  contain  wonderful  World  War  secrets 
or  will  seek  to  solve  the  many  vexatious  problems  arising 
out  of  that  great  conflict.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  tale  told 
by  a  newspaper  publisher  whose  aim  is  to  collect  a  few  of  the 
outstanding  things  he  saio  and  wrote  about  ivhile  abroad, 
and  talked  of  when  he  returned  home.  Primarily,  kith  and 
kin  were  first  and  foremost  in  his  mind,  and  if  the  record 
of  his  experiences  and  observations  in  the  terrific,  crashing 
days  which  brought  an  end  to  the  most  cruel  and  awful  war 
in  history,  interests  or  enlightens  those  for  whom  its 
compilation  is  intended,  he  will  feel  himself  fully  justified 
for  time  taken  in  writing  his  humble  effort,  "  All  of  which 
he  saw  and  a  part  of  which  he  was." 
When  events  herein  recorded  were  occurring  Germany  was 
charged  with  monstrous  outrages,  with  vandalism  and 
brutalities;  and  Allies  and  Allied  sympathizers  sought  to 
wreak  vengeance  upon  her  unfortunate  head.  Time  may 
soften,  and  history  correct,  reports  made  in  the  heat  and 
bitterness  of  war  at  its  zenith,  when  such  aspersions  were 
uttered.  Three  and  a  half  years  have  elapsed  since  hostilities 


ceased,  but  solemn  pledges  made  by  Americans  and  the 
Allies,  that  never  again  would  they  buy  anything  made  in 
Germany,  have  been  broken,  and  every  country  is  now 
seeking  eagerly  to  re-establish  former  trade  relations. 
In  his  own  way,  too,  the  writer  will  tell  the  part,  as  he 
observed  it,  which  American  boys  played  in  a  great  world 
fight  under  west  European  skies,  where  their  deeds  of  heroism 
icere  almost  as  countless  as  the  stars  themselves,  and  where, 
as  one  chronicler  of  that  day  ivrote:  "  Millions  of  men  have 
stood  immovable  or  have  pushed  forward  with  courage 
which  is  greater  than  that  required  to  face  death.  Death 
is  merely  a  part  of  the  hideousness  of  war — the  part  which 
has  made  a  cemetery  of  each  hillside  in  Eastern  France" 
<$  "  The  thing  is  unimaginable — the  sights  that  shock  the 
brain,  the  scent  of  poisonous  gases,  the  thin,  sharp  sound  of 
flying  fragments  of  steel,  the  whistle  of  shells,  increasing 
rapidly  in  volume,  until  with  deafening  noise  there  comes 
the  explosion — all  tend  to  tear  down  the  will  to  ivithstand, 
and  to  destroy  the  will  to  advance." 

"  Under  such  conditions  men  do  not  pause  to  make  small 
calculations;  they  act  by  virtue  of  that  which  is  either 
inbred  or  inherent.  Their  fears  are  terrific,  and  yet  they 
push  these  aside,  trample  over  them  and  attain  the  heights 
of  ideal  courage." 

In  all  history  can  be  found  no  other  three  months  so 
epochal,  so  fraught  with  mighty  happenings.  Never  before 
was  it  vouchsafed  to  a  little  band  of  civilian  observers  like 
ours  to  be  at  the  very  storm  center  of  events  in  the  most 
crucial  period  of  a  war,  the  greatest  of  all  wars.  On  our 
arrival  in  Liverpool,  news  came  that  United  States  troops 
had  taken  St.  Mihiel;  French  and  Americans  had  attacked 
in  the  Argonne;  Bulgaria  had  signed  an  armistice  and 
surrendered,  while  soon  aftenvard  Kaiser  Wilhelm  with- 
drew from  battle  fronts,  where  in  desperation  he  had  gone 
to  rally  in  person  his  retreating  army,  and  returning  to 
Berlin,  "  sulked  in  his  tent."  There  were  rumors  that  he 


refused  to  leave  Berlin  and  that  death  to  him  was  preferable 
to  surrender.  Also,  there  were  hints  at  suicide.  In  the 
interim  of  our  arrival  in  Liverpool  and  return  to  London 
on  the  night  of  November  10,  fighting  had  been  the  most  terrific, 
the  most  awful  in  the  history  of  a  world  which  had  stood 
aghast.  But  the  mighty  hordes  of  Germany,  with  the  vaunted, 
impenetrable  Hindenburg  line,  began  to  yield,  the  shell  of 
Central  Europe  tottered  and  crumbled,  and  on  November  9 
the  Kaiser  abdicated  and  the  day  following  fled  to  Hol- 
land. Next  day  the  Armistice  was  signed. 
So  the  newspaper  group  had  seen  the  battle  fronts  from 
Belgium  down  through  Eastern  France,  a  long,  black  strip 
of  ruin  from  one  to  forty  miles  wide,  had  seen  war  in  its 
fiercest  activities  and  in  its  cataclysmic  finish. 
When  in  New  York  in  late  November,  their  mission  ful- 
filled, the  little  band  of  Editorial  pilgrims  bade  each  other 
a  fond  adieu,  with  a  God-be-with-you-till-we-meet- 
again,  it  ended  THE  GREAT  ADVENTURE— which, 
in  the  writers  life,  remains  the  supreme  event  or  experience 
whose  friendships  and  glories  are  destined  to  enrich, 
brighten  and  gladden  his  memory  down  to  the  day  when  the 
summons  shall  come  for  him  to  pass  on. 

Edward  H.  O '  Hara 


PART  1 

How  it  Began 


By  Whom  and  Why  a  Momentous 
Mission  was  Conceived 


Convoy  Crossed  the  Atlantic 

in  Worst  Tempest  During 

World  War 


Wreck  of  the  Otranto 

Only  Ship  Lost  in 

War  Because 

of  Storm 


CHAPTER  I 


Birth  of  a  Big  Idea 


Broad  Visioned  Beaverbrook  Devised  a  way  to  Nullify  the  Effect  of 
German  Propaganda  and  England  Created  a  Ministry  of  Infor- 
mation with  Lord  Beaverbrook  at  its  Head — Leading  American 
Newspaper  and  Magazine  Editors  or  Publishers,  asked  by 
English  Ministry  to  Cross  Seas  and  See  loith  Their  Otvn  Eyes 
what  World  War  was  Like  and  What  Great  Britain  s  Part  in 
It  Had  Been. 

N  reciting  such  a  journey  as  is  herein 
described  naturally  the  first  question 
asked  is,  "  What  was  its  inception?  ' 
If  In  the  winter  of  1917-1918,  England 
was  thrown  into  a  fervid  frenzy  at  re- 
ports that  Germany  had  assiduously 
and  insidiously  circulated  malevolent 
Anti-British  propaganda  throughout  America.  So  general 
were  these  broadcasted,  and  so  accredited,  that  Parlia- 
ment arose  to  the  necessity  of  a  searching  investigation 
of  the  entire  question  with  a  view  of  offsetting,  if  not 
entirely  undoing,  the  evil  effects  of  this  sinister  propa- 
ganda. Any  inquiry,  it  was  agreed,  should  be  thorough, 
exhaustive,  intelligent  and  efficient,  if  a  helpful  solution 
of  the  perplexing  problem  was  to  spring  from  it. 
That  false  and  damaging  reports  wTere  being  disseminat- 
ed through  the  medium  of  American  newspapers  and 
magazines  was  firmly  fixed  in  the  minds  of  English 
War  and  legislative  leaders,  who  apparently  believed 
that    if    important    American    newspapers    were    not 

—  1  — 


World  War  actually  owned  by  Germany,  many  of  them  were  sub- 

At  Its  sidized  by  junkerdom.  Heated  discussions  followed  in 

PT  tm  a  v  the  House  of  Lords.  Lord  Beaverbrook,  himself  owner  of 

v_/LIMAX  _  .  „  '  . 

a  great  London  newspaper,  Ine  Express,  eloquently 
combatted  the  assumption  that  American  newspaper 
men  were  corrupt  or  venal  or  Prussianized.  Originally 
a  lawyer  by  profession,  then  a  banker,  and  a  keen 
and  able  observer  of  social  life  and  public  affairs  in 
America,  while  living  in  his  earlier  days  in  Canada,  which 
he  quit  for  the  land  of  his  adoption  eight  years  before, 
it  was  not  egotism  for  him,  he  believed,  to  say  he  was 
fully  qualified  to  judge  of  the  tendencies,  aspirations 
and  aims  of  American  newspaper  publishers. 
Reports  of  a  Prussianized  American  press  were  not 
only  maliciously  untrue,  but  manifestly  absurd. 
America  had  between  8,000  and  10,000  daily  newspapers, 
to  say  nothing  of  vastly  outnumbering  weeklies  and 
monthlies.  To  acquire  these  would  mean  billions  of 
dollars.  Side  by  side  with  allied  troops,  American  boys 
were  fighting,  and  it  would  have  been  unthinkable 
treason  for  American  newspapers  even  to  give  an 
appearance  of  deserting  their  government  at  such  a 
crisis.  Nor  would  a  public  so  outraged  stand  for  such 
newspaper  conduct.  Unmistakably  demands  in  such 
conditions  would  be  made  for  government  confiscation 
or  suppression. 

As  shedding  light  upon  England's  concern  over  what 
she  believed  were  Germany's  activities  and  attitude  in 
America  it  is  necessary  to  call  attention  to  what  was 
then  going  on  in  Mexico  and  between  Mexico  and  Ger- 
many, for  England,  innocently,  no  doubt,  had  con- 
founded the  United  States  with  Mexico. 
For  more  than  three  years  Mexico  had  been  in  constant 
revolutionary  turmoil.  In  every  way  our  neighboring 
republic  had  sought  to  draw  us  into  the  vortex  of  the 

—  2  — 


maelstrom  which  her  intrigues,  bandit  uprisings  and  World  War 
imbroglios  had  made.  Germany  was  broadcasting  deadly  At  Its 
propaganda  in  Mexico  and  seeking  to  incite  Mexican  cLIMAX 
hatred  of  us  because  we  had  aligned  ourselves  on  the    ^ 
side  of  the  Allies.  Before  the  war,  both  Germany  and    * 
England  had  enjoyed  far  better  trade  relations  with 
Mexico  than  had  the  United  States.  Her  dream  of  world 
conquest  once  realized,  Germany  aspired  to  command 
Mexican  resources  and  trade. 

From  the  lips  of  an  eminent  American  physician  who 
served  our  government  in  Mexico  in  a  secret  capacity 
for  more  than  three  years  during  and  immediately  fol- 
lowing the  World  War,  I  learned  that  in  Mexican  oil 
fields  German  agents  were  extremely  active.  Posters 
calling  upon  Mexicans  to  burn  American  wells  were 
posted  throughout  the  oil  regions,  but  promptly  pulled 
down  bv  Americans.  In  some  instances  the  torch  was 
actually  applied  with  disastrous  results.  This  was  but 
one  of  the  many  forms  of  pernicious  activity  by  Ger- 
mans or  German  sympathizers.  American  citizens  in 
Mexico  besought  President  WTilson  to  intervene.  The 
President's  reply  was  that  he  was  pursuing  a  policy  of 
"  watchful  waiting." 

Former  President  Roosevelt,  with  all  the  vigor  and 
vehemence  of  his  aggressive  nature,  denounced  his  suc- 
cessor as  "  too  proud  to  fight,"  declaring  that  were  he  in 
Presidential  office  he  would  follow  Villa  and  his  bloody 
bandits  to  their  mountain  fastnesses,  capture  them  and 
settle  details  afterwards  as  to  the  right  thing  to  do. 
1§  Notwithstanding  Colonel  Roosevelt's  hostile  attitude, 
he  seemed  personally  more  popular  with  the  masses  in 
Mexico  than  President  Wilson.  Then,  as  always,  bull 
fighting  was  the  national  sport  in  Mexico.  At  such 
events,  as  well  as  in  theaters  and  wherever  else  the 
public  congregated,   the  name  of  Wilson   was  coldly 

—  3  — 


World  War  received,  while  that  of  Roosevelt  evoked  huzzas  loud 
At  Its  and  long.  ... 

Climax  This  seeming  digression  is  made  to  explain  how  Great 
Britain  had  mixed  Mexico  up  with  the  United  States 
***  in  taking  for  granted  that  Germany  was  making  friends 
with  American  newspapers  and  American  people. 
So  convincing  were  arguments  of  Lord  Beaverbrook  a 
committee  appointed  to  find  an  escape  from  the  dilem- 
ma was  told  by  him  that  the  only  way  was  to  create  a 
bureau  or  ministry  of  information  which  would  send  a 
commission  to  America  to  select  a  delegation  of  pub- 
lishers or  editors  of  leading  magazines  and  newspapers 
who,  as  guests  of  the  British  Government,  would  cross 
the  ocean  and  see  for  themselves  what  Great  Britain  had 
done  and  was  doing,  what  her  part  in  the  World  War  was, 
had  been,  and  must  be. 

Because  of  his  Canadian  antecedents,  Lord  Beaver- 
brook had  been  appointed  by  the  British  government 
historian  of  Canada's  part  in  the  World  War  and  official 
photographer  at  battle  fronts  for  Great  Britain.  For 
more  than  three  years  in  this  dual  capacity  he  had 
shared,  with  the  infantry,  the  perils  and  hardships  of 
wTar,  and  so  vigorously  and  zealously  had  he  prosecuted 
this  work  that  his  health  broke  under  its  privations  and 
hardships  &o  so 

In  accordance  with  Lord  Beaverbrook's  recommenda- 
tion a  Ministry  of  Information  was  promptly  created. 
This  ministry  was  somewhat  similar  to  certain  divisions 
of  our  Department  of  the  Interior.  Beaverbrook  was 
chosen  as  its  head. 

Because  ill  health  would  not  permit  him  to  continue 
such  extraordinary  efforts  as  he  had  put  forth  at  the 
front,  Lord  Beaverbrook  decided  to  accept  the  great 
honor  and  to  choose  as  an  assistant  an  able  and  energetic 
young  man  upon  whose  shoulders  should  fall  the  bur- 

—  4  — 


dens  of  office.  Looming  large  in  the  public  eye  at  the  World  War 
time,  on  account  of  his  civic  activities  in  London,  was  At  Its 
Major  Evelyn  Wrench,  having  just  organized  the  popu-  Climax 
lar  English -Speaking  Union  and  placed  Mr  Arthur  J.    * 
Balfour  at  its  head.  Also  his  record  for  valor  and  achieve-    * 
ment  at  the  fighting  front  was  widely  known  and  uni- 
versally  commended.    Lord   Beaverbrook   accordingly 
drafted  Major  Wrench,  promptly  placed  him  in  full 
charge  of  the  Ministry  of  Information,  himself  remain- 
ing in  the  background  wholly  in  an  advisory  capacity. 
At   once   the   task   of   organization   was   energetically 
begun.  Early  in  1918  a  commission  of  five  members  was 
sent  to  New  York  city  to  open  offices,  where  a  large 
force  of  secretaries  and  clerks  worked  diligently  for  six 
or  eight  months. 

Sir  Geoffrey  Butler,  brother  of  the  former  Governor- 
General  of  India,  headed  the  commission;  Louis  Tracy, 
novelist,  who  had  recently  put  out  his  thrilling  novel, 
"  On  the  Wings  of  the  Morning,  "  was  a  second  member; 
a  distinguished  officer,  Commander  Belt,  who  had  been 
wounded  while  with  General  Allenby  in  Asia  Minor  and 
awaited  a  return  to  health,  was  a  third;  Major  Lancaster, 
member  of  The  London  Times  organization  and  Vis- 
count Northcliffe's  legal  adviser,  who,  in  that  office 
served  all  of  the  Viscount's  vast  newspaper  interests, 
was  fourth,  and  Henry  Goode  of  New  York  city,  an 
American,  was  the  fifth. 

After  three  months  of  careful  and  scrutinizing  investi- 
gation, the  following  party  was  chosen  by  the  Com- 
mission: Edward  W.  Bok  of  the  Ladies'  Home  Journal; 
Duncan  Clark,  Chicago  Evening  Post;  Alfred  Holman, 
San  Francisco  Argonaut;  Dr.  Charles  R.  L.  VanHise, 
President  of  the  Wisconsin  University;  F.  W.  Kellogg, 
San  Francisco,  Cal.;  L.  W.  Nieman,  Milwaukee  Jour- 
nal; R.  T.  Oulihan,  New  York  Times;  Ellery  Sedgwick, 

—  5  — 


World  War  Atlantic  Monthly;  Dr.   Albert  Shaw,  Review  of  Re- 
At  Its  views;  James  N.  Thompson,  New  Orleans  Item;  C.  H. 
Climax  Towne,    McClure's    Magazine,    Dr.    E.    J.    Wheeler, 
Everybody's. 


."•«» 


Rt.  Hon.  Lord  Beaverbrook 


—  6  — 


CHAPTER  II 


Newspaper  Men  Take  Up  the  Torch 
Thrown  Down  by  Magazine  Brethren 

Go  Over  to  End  War  and  Finish  the  Job  Their  Predecessors  Were 
Impotent  to  Do — Refused  to  Go  if  Bound  by  Any  Understanding 
Except  an  Open  Mind  Which  Should  Tell  of  Things  as  They 
Saw  Them — England  Said  She  Would  Lay  Her  Cards  Upon 
the  Table  Face  Up. 

AGAZINE  MEN,  constituting  group 
one,  who  had  gone  over  in  late  June, 
having  failed  by  early  September  to  end 
t  war,  twelve  newspaper  publishers  were 
drafted  as  group  number  two.  Insofar 
as  most  of  us  were  concerned  it  was  a 
hurried  and  an  unexpected  S.  O.  S.  In 
the  writer's  case  his  mind  was  made  up  only  forty  hours 
prior  to  the  time  of  sailing.  It  was  too  late  to  go  to 
Washington  for  passports,  but  Secretary  of  State  Lans- 
ing generously  stepped  into  the  breach  and  designated 
a  federal  officer  in  New  York  City  who  provided  the 
necessary  credentials.  The  ever  present  difficulty  then 
was  that  America  and  the  Allies  had  commandeered 
the  whole  Atlantic  ocean  and  held  that  no  one  had  the 
right  to  cross  it  unless  to  fight.  War,  or  service  therefor, 
were  the  only  grounds  upon  which  passports  were 
issued  s+  s& 

Few  in  our  party  had  the  faintest  conception  of  what  was 
expected   of  them   until   they   arrived   at  New   York. 

—  7  — 


World  War  Unquestionably  the  most  impelling  reason  for  accepting 

At  Its  invitations  was  that  many  had  sons  in  action  overseas 

Climax  anc^  were  ready  and  willing  to  make  any  sacrifice  for  an 

^    opportunity  to  meet  them. 

*  It  should  be  emphasized  in  connection  with  choosings 
for  this  most  important  mission  that  no  one  was  named 
for  his  beauty  or  his  brains.  Few,  perhaps,  would  have 
been  able  to  qualifj^  upon  those  grounds.  England  went 
about  the  task  in  her  usual  cold,  calculating,  business 
way. 

Each  newspaper  was  employing  as  war  corres- 
pondents a  staff  of  able  commenters  and  illustrious 
reporters  capable  of  wielding  more  forceful,  trenchant  or 
facile  pens  than  any  one  of  our  party.  England's  wish 
was  rather  to  reach  the  man  in  control  of  newspaper 
policies  and  destinies,  and  Viscount  Northcliffe  and  Lord 
Beaverbrook,  wise  in  their  business  of  newspaper- 
making,  told  the  powers  that  be  that  that  man  was  the 
publisher  £»  s«* 

Twenty-thousand  four-hundred  and  thirty-one  news- 
papers are  printed  in  the  United  States  with  an  aggre- 
gate circulation  of  fifteen  and  a  half  billion  copies  a 
year.  From  out  this  vast  number  Twelve  Newspapers 
were  chosen— one  from  every  seventeen  hundred  and 
sixty  newspapers — which  tells  the  story  of  the  high 
compliment  conferred  by  Great  Britain  in  selecting  our 
Editorial  party  and  stresses  her  belief  that  she  had 
selected  newspapers  of  the  greatest  influence  and  pres- 
tige in  their  respective  localities.  It  will  be  seen  on  a 
close  study  of  the  map  of  the  United  States  that  in  the 
selection  made  every  division  of  the  country  was  repre- 
sented— the  Pacific  Coast,  the  Rocky  Mountain  Region, 
the  Middle  West,  the  South  and  the  Middle  East  and 
the  East. 

In  the  choice  of  newspapers  high  honor  and  esteem  was 

—  8  — 


intended,   the   men   selected   as   representatives   being  World  War 
merely  coincidental.  At  Its 

At  Sherry's  famous  restaurant,  whither  we  were  directed  cLIMax 
to  go  by  England's  Ministry  Commission,  we  found  in 
waiting  a  dinner  at  which  Sir  Geoffrey  Butler  was  toast- 
master.  Without  entering  into  details,  Sir  Geoffrey  said 
his  government  wished  us  to  cross  the  ocean  and  see  for 
ourselves,  first  hand,  what  was  happening  over  there 
and  how  much  of  a  part  Great  Britain  was  taking  in 
it  all. 

One  of  our  members  opened  the  discussion  by  saying 
apologetically  that  there  were  many  things  in  our  school 
books  which  obviously  perverted  history  and  was  unfair 
and  derogatory  to  England  and  he  contended  that  all 
such  false  and  damaging  teachings  should  be  expurgated 
from  text  books. 

The  member  from  Oregon,  Mr.  Piper,  was  next  speaker. 
So  great  a  period  had  elapsed  since  his  school  days,  he 
declared  he  could  not  recall  just  what  our  text  books 
did  contain.  Whatever  their  content,  he  was  decidedly 
and  unequivocally  opposed  to  delving  into  such  subjects 
or  sitting  in  judgment  upon  them.  Traveling  farthest  of 
anyone  to  be  present,  he  asserted  that  if  a  revision  of 
American  text  books  or  commitment  to  any  course  of 
conduct  was  the  purpose  of  the  trip,  he  must  respect- 
fully decline  to  go.  He  would  prefer  to  take  the  first 
train  back  home. 

After  others  had  spoken  like  sentiments,  Sir  Geoffrey 
Butler,  for  the  Commissioners,  said  he  was  greatly 
pleased  with  the  frankness  of  the  newspaper  men. 
England  would  be  deeply  grateful  if  the  publishers 
became  her  guests  and  would  lay  all  her  cards  on  the 
table  face  up,  exacting  no  promises  whatsoever.  He 
told  the  publishers  they  would  be  free  to  return  home 
and  say  whatever  they  pleased,  if  only  they  consented 

—  9  — 


World  War  to  make  the  trip.  While  over  there  letters  or  messages 

At  Its  must  pass  through  censor's  hands,  all  such  documents 

Climax  would  De  submitted  by  Ministry  of  Information  officers, 

^    so  that  Sir  Geoffrey  felt  the  liberty  of  the  press  would 

*     not  be  materially  abridged. 

With  this  satisfactory  explanation  the  entire  party 
agreed  to  sail  next  day. 

Next  me  sat  Louis  Tracy,  the  novelist.  Noticing  I  wore 
a  service  button,  he  congratulated  me  upon  going  across 
with  a  prospect  of  meeting  my  son,  and  then  remarked, 
with  a  deep  touch  of  sadness  in  his  voice,  that  his  own 
son  had  made  the  supreme  sacrifice. 
"  Killed  in  action?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Yes,  thank  God,  a  captain  leading  his  men;  just  as  I 
wished  him  to  die  and  as  I  know  he  would  have  pre- 
ferred to  die.  Noble  boy." 

Before  we  arose  from  our  delightful  meal,  Sir  Geoffrey  told 
us  that  the  mystery  and  secrecy  attending  all  sailings 
must  be  observed,  but  he  felt  safe  in  saying  our  ship 
was  to  be  a  giant  greyhound  of  such  high  speed  that 
submarine  danger  would  be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  if 
not  wholly  eliminated.  We  were  told  to  report  at  a 
certain  pier  next  day,  at  an  appointed  hour,  and  ask  for 
a  ship  known  to  us  only  by  number. 
With  mixed  anticipations  and  forebodings  over  our 
embarkation  on  the  morrow,  our  enjoyable  dinner  came 
to  an  end. 

Those  who  went  were:  Franklin  Potts  Glass,  of  The 
Birmingham,  Ala.  News;  Edward  W.  Barrett,  Birming- 
ham Age-Herald;  Edward  H.  Butler,  Buffalo  Evening 
News;  Herschel  V.  Jones,  Minneapolis  Journal;  Frank 
Richardson  Kent,  Baltimore  Sun;  A.  M.  McKay,  Salt 
Lake  Tribune;  Edgar  Bramwell  Piper,  The  Oregonian, 
Portland,  Ore.;  Edward  Lansing  Ray,  St.  Louis  Globe- 
Democrat;  Col.  Charles  A.  Rook,  Pittsburgh  Dispatch; 

—  10  — 


Lafayette  Young,  Jr.,  Des  Moines  Capitol,  Des  Moines;  World  War 
W.  A.  Paterson,  Western  Newspaper  Union,  Chicago  At  Its 
and  New  York,  and  Edward  H.  O'Hara,  The  Syracuse  Climax 
Herald  £••£•»  * 


11  — 


<   =  —  • 

5-  ■*•   ?     - 


--     Sr  *m  ■*■ 
^  ^3    q    O    v 


■I  1  5^  8" 

&3       ■«*      ^i  SS 

1p*  r^n  t^.    p^..  ^ 


-j  §   as  Ni 


§  Es)  >  «3 .3 


^>   £  i 


CHAPTER  III 


A  Ship  of  Death 


A  Hideous  Voyage — Spanish  Influenza  and  Pneumonia  take 
Frightful  Toll — Worst  Storm  in  Fifty  Years  Resulting  in  Loss 
of  One  Transport  and  Many  Lives. 

}00N  following  dinner  at  Sherry's 
found  our  Editorial  voyagers  at  pier 
59  North  river.  Ship  number  718,  for 
which  we  were  told  to  ask,  proved  to  be 
not  the  promised  Cedric,  a  modern 
floating  palace,  but  a  poky,  stuffy 
8,000  ton  troopship,  the  Orontes.  From 
mysterious  whisperings  among  her  crew,  it  quickly 
leaked  out  that  Spanish  influenza  had  been  discovered 
aboard  before  reaching  Boston  one  week  earlier,  at 
which  port  twenty  cases  were  taken  off.  Customs  officers, 
health  officers  and  our  British  hosts  were  summoned 
for  conference,  and  twice  we  threatened  to  quit  the  ship. 
On  repeated  assurances  that  all  reports  were  grossly 
exaggerated,  that  there  had  been  thorough  fumigation 
and  disinfection,  an  officious  federal  representative, 
whose  word  was  law  (martial  law  at  least)  imperiously 
waved  us  away,  and  after  twenty -four  hours  of  almost 
constant  wrangling  we  put  out  to  sea.  Then  we  learned 
it  was  the  first  voyage  of  the  Orontes  to  America. 
Hitherto  she,  British  owned,  had  plied  between  Australia 
and  Great  Britain  bearing  English  colonial  troops  to 
war.  England  had  never  permitted  her  to  carry  more 
than  750  soldiers,  as  the  ship's  maximum  capacity  was 
not  more  than  nine  hundred  passengers.  In  America's 

—  13  — 


♦• 


World  War  mad  rush  to  get  men  over  1834  troops,  including  500 
At  Its  negroes,  had  been  herded  into  cramped  quarters. 

Climax  -^ar  ou^  a^  sea  we  reacned  our  convoy,  which  apparently 
had  been  lying  in  wait  for  us.  There  were  eleven  camou- 
flaged vessels,  comprising  a  fleet  of  twelve,  carrying 
28,000  troops  and  protected  by  a  destroyer,  a  cruiser 
and  a  giant  man-o'-war — fifteen  ships  in  all.  Seaplanes 
and  dirigible  balloons  hovered  above  or  sailed  about  us. 
With  these  and  the  mystifying,  tortuous,  shuttlecock 
movements  of  our  convoy,  we  got  our  first  big  thrill  and 
simultaneously  we  realized  we  had  indeed  entered  upon 
A  GREAT  ADVENTURE. 

After  a  few  hours,  these  "  eyes  of  the  sea,"  as  hydro- 
planes were  known,  withdrew  their  protecting  wings, 
their  hum  and  roar  grew  fainter  and  fainter  until 
finally  they  died  away  in  the  shoreward  distance.  A 
sense  of  great  depression  came  over  us  as  we  realized 
we  were  alone  with  our  fate.  As  told  in  the  rhymes  of  the 
Ancient  Mariner  we  were: 

Alone,  alone,  all,  all  alone, 
Alone  on  the  wide,  wide  sea. 

Hydroplanes  had  been  scanning  the  seas  for  submarines 
just  as  a  kingfisher  searches  its  prey. 
Almost  from  the  outset  we  encountered  stormy  weather. 
The  third  daj^  out  our  first  tragedy  of  the  sea  happened 
when  a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  a  Mr.  Croucher,  old 
and  diabetic,  traveling  from  his  temporary  charge  in 
Vancouver,  British  Columbia,  to  his  native  Scotland  to 
die  among  relatives  and  amid  scenes  of  his  childhood, 
succumbed  to  pneumonia  and  was  buried  at  sea.  Then 
we  learned  that  in  the  twenty-four  hours  we  lay  along- 
side dock  in  New  York,  forty  cases  of  Spanish  influenza 
had  developed,  many  were  secretly  taken  ashore,  and 
that  there  were  then  more  than  one  hundred  cases  on 

—  14  — 


board.  Next  day  there  were  two  burials  at  sea,  next 
three  and  next  five.  Our  negro  troops  became  wildly 
exercised,  threatened  to  mutiny  and  had  to  be  put  under 
martial  restraint. 

There  were  no  more  daylight  burials,  bodies  thereafter 
being  cast  into  the  sea  secretly  at  night. 
Against  the  wishes  of  those  in  charge  Mr.  Piper  and  this 
writer  attended  the  clergyman's  burial.  We  thought  of 
the  rude  awakening  in  store  for  his  waiting  relatives  in 
Scotland  when  his  failure  to  arrive  was  explained. 
At  6 :  30  A.  M.  of  the  second  day  thereafter,  our  whole 
Editorial  party  arose  to  participate  in  the  burial  of  three 
soldiers.  It  was  decided  to  change  the  hour  of  the  cere- 
mony to  10:30.  The  triple  burial  proved  to  be  inexpress- 
ibly sad  and  depressing  in  the  midst  of  a  cold,  driving 
rain  and  an  angry  sea.  A  Methodist  chaplain  connected 
with  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  officiated.  The  ship's  little  band  of 
civilian  passengers  and  a  number  of  soldiers  stood  by 
with  bared  heads  throughout  the  brief  exercises.  Soldiers 
in  charge  of  the  military  burial  stood  at  sides  of  grooved 
plank  affairs  in  which  the  bodies  rested.  Over  the  tops 
of  these  rude  catafalques  were  fastened  American  flags. 
The  bodies  were  in  sacks  with  heavy  pieces  of  iron  rails 
tied  at  the  feet.  Ceremonies  over,  soldiers  raised  the  head 
of  each  chute  to  a  proper  angle  until  bodies  slipped  from 
under  the  flag  into  the  deep.  The  flags  remained  with 
the  frame.  There  was  many  a  wet  eye  among  the  sorrow- 
ful gathering,  whose  chief  distress  was  that  a  greater  and 
worthier  tribute  of  respect  could  not  be  paid  these 
glorious  dead. 

A  Danish  sea-captain,  called  to  Washington  on  a  secret 
mission,  having  also  served  Great  Britain,  showed  little 
concern  over  the  storm,  declaring  it  would  soon  blow 
itself.  But  he  reckoned  without  his  host,  as  it  did  not 
abate  one  jot  or  iota.  He  further  enlightened  us  with  the 

—  15  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 


f 


World  War  story  of  how  upon  discovering  the  presence  of  a  sub- 
At  Its  marine,  cruiser  and  destroyer,  which  accompany  con- 
Climax  v°ys'  circle  about  and  drop  depth  bombs  and  keep  up 
constant  firing  until  the  submarine  is  hit  or  sunk. 
A  bounty  of  twenty-five  pounds  sterling,  we  were  in- 
formed, was  paid  the  person  discovering  a  submarine, 
and  the  ship  sinking  one  received  two  thousand  five 
hundred  pounds,  the  money  being  distributed  among 
crew  members. 

In  earlier  days  many  of  our  newspaper  tribe  were  penny- 
a-liners,  or  space  writers,  to  whom  a  bonus  of  twenty- 
five  pounds  would  loom  big.  While  editors  spent  much 
time  keeping  a  sharp  lookout  for  submarines  they 
inwardly  prayed  they  would  n't  see  one — their  avari- 
cious instincts  for  once  having  deserted  them. 
Early  one  morning  there  was  great  commotion  when 
our  destroyer  laid  down  a  smoke  barrage.  It  was  a  tense 
moment.  The  destroyer  and  submarine  chasers  started 
after  something.  When  they  came  upon  it,  it  turned 
out  to  be  a  big  piece  of  old  wreckage. 
In  the  thirty-six  hours  which  the  eighty-mile  gale  had 
raged  two  of  the  crew  had  been  lost  overboard.  The 
purser  was  rolled  along  the  deck  by  waves  shipped  and 
his  head  so  badly  cut,  six  stitches  were  taken.  It  was  a 
miracle  he  was  not  swept  overboard.  One  seaman  broke 
his  leg ;  another  pitched  down  a  hatchway  and  broke  four 
ribs  so  $& 

Pneumonia,  following  influenza,  increased  alarmingly. 
Two  hospitals  below  decks  were  jammed  full  of  patients, 
and  windows  were  torn  out  of  smoking  and  lounging 
room  on  the  hurricane  deck,  converting  the  space  into 
another  hospital  where  fifty  pneumonia  patients  were 
placed.  All  medicines  were  quickly  exhausted.  There 
were  no  tubes  of  oxygen,  so  useful  in  the  last  stages  of 
pneumonia,  but  had  there  been  they  would  have  helped 

—  16  — 


* 


little  with  only  two  physicians  and  no  nurses  to  care  World  War 
for  the  sick.  A  Y.  man  on  the  way  to  Paris  did  wonderful  At  Its 
work  «*>  s&  Climax 

To  add  to  the  other  horrors  of  this  SHIP  OF  DEATH, 
four  days  off  Liverpool,  the  worst  storm  in  forty-five 
years  broke.  First  afternoon  a  seaman  at  work  on  the 
hurricane  deck  getting  hawsers  in  shape  so  that  life 
boats  might  be  lowered  was  swept  overboard  and  dis- 
appeared in  the  mighty  combers. 

Next  morning  a  watch  went  up  to  the  crow's  nest,  or 
lookout,  to  relieve  the  night  boy.  Door  was  open,  but 
boy  was  gone,  having  during  the  night  been  blown  out 
into  the  sea.  Next  day  the  storm  reached  the  zenith  of 
its  fury,  wind  and  wave  having  grown  wilder  and 
mightier  until  in  its  awful  power  and  action  the  ocean 
became  majestic,  enthralling.  A  whirling,  typhonic  gale 
sprang  up  suddenly  in  the  midst  of  it  all,  and  when  it 
had  gone  we  were  entirely  alone,  our  convoy  and  all  our 
cherished  protectors  having  been  separated  from  us  to 
be  seen  no  more. 

That  afternoon  a  mountain  of  water  came  over  the 
ship's  larboard  side.  From  prow  to  stern  our  stumbling 
but  gallant  little  craft  trembled  under  the  awful 
impact  s—  s& 

Windows  and  doors  were  riven.  Furniture  and  men  in 
the  upper  deck  lounge  were  swept  across  the  room  in 
wild  confusion.  Passengers  were  bruised,  shocked  and 
wrenched.  Mighty  seas,  thus  shipped,  swirled  down 
stairs  like  cataracts,  carrying  everything  before  them. 
Consternation  ensued.  Men  in  the  lower  decks  believed 
the  boat  doomed,  but  pumps  were  put  to  work  and 
comparative  calm  was  finally  restored.  Kitchen  fires 
had  been  put  out,  and  it  was  found  impossible  to  brew 
tea  or  coffee  or  to  cook  food.  For  three  days  we  were 
forced  to  live  on  crackers  and  cheese  with  ginger  beer 

—  17  — 


World  War  for  a  drink.  So  badly  did  our  boat  toss  and  roll  we  could 
At  Its  take  our  beverage  only  from  the  bottle. 
Climax  ^nen  we  reached  Liverpool,  fifty-six  pneumonia  pa- 
to  tients,  laboriously  gasping  for  breath  from  want  of 
"  proper  facilities  for  treatment,  and  the  rolling  about 
on  smoking  room  floors,  were  carried  on  stretchers  to 
the  city  hospitals  where,  doubtless,  forty  or  forty-five 
of  them  died  later.  It  was  learned  that  we  had  had  500 
cases  of  influenza,  130  cases  of  pneumonia.  There  had 
been  38  burials  at  sea.  Two  negroes  were  found  hidden 
under  the  stairs  on  the  boat's  deck,  where  they  had 
gone  in  their  fright  or  delirium.  They  had  been  dead  for 
many  days.  Rats  had  gnawed  the  arm  of  one  of  them. 
The  last  three  nights,  when  it  seemed  as  if  we  cer- 
tainly must  sink,  our  Editorial  band  delegated  two  young 
members  to  keep  vigil  and  arouse  our  party  if  necessary 
to  leave  the  ship.  It  probably  would  have  been  useless 
to  quit  the  ship  in  the  circumstances  since  no  life-boat 
could  live  in  such  a  sea.  We  were  to  stand  bv  and  help 
each  other  if  anything  happened.  FOR  ONCE,  IF  WE 
WENT  TO  THE  BOTTOM,  WE  DESIRED  TO  GO 
DOWN  AS  AN  UNITED  PRESS. 
Second  night  before  landing,  Edgar  B  ram  well  Piper 
and  I  sat  discussing  our  plight  and  the  seeming  cer- 
tainty that  our  ship  could  not  live  through  the  awful 
storm.  To  my  comment  that  if  first  permitted  to  see 
my  son  George,  who  was  fighting  at  the  front,  I  believed 
I  'd  be  reconciled  to  go,  Piper  brought  his  fist  down 
upon  the  table  with  a  resounding  thwack  and  said: 
"  O'Hara,  your  son  is  in  the  wicked  machine-gun  service 
and  has  been  over  the  top  many  times.  Mine  is  an 
aviator.  Even  now  they  are  taking  a  thousand  chances 
to  our  one.  There  are  a  thousand  reasons  why  we  should 
take  a  chance  to  one  that  they  should.  You  and  I  are 
going  down  the  western  slope  of  life  while  they  are  in 

—  18  — 


the  joyful  period  of  their  young  manhood.  I  '11  be 
damned  if  I  'm  going  to  be  a  cringing  coward.  Let 's  go 
to  bed!" 

To  bed  we  went  and  slept.  We  were  among  the  few  who 
did,  as  nearly  all  believed  we  would  never  see  the  dawn 
of  another  day. 

As  we  entered  the  Mersey,  a  committee  of  our  party 
went  to  the  ship's  bridge  and  presented  the  captain  with 
a  purse  of  $520,  a  token  of  appreciation  for  his  faithful 
vigil  and  great  ability  as  a  navigator.  In  the  five  days 
before  Liverpool  was  reached  he  had  been  off  the  bridge 
but  four  hours  and  was  kept  awake  with  pots  of  strong 
coffee  brought  to  him  at  frequent  intervals. 
Arriving  in  Liverpool,  our  chairman,  Frank  P.  Glass, 
himself  a  pillar  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  his  home 
town,  suggested  that  next  day  we  search  out  some  quiet 
chapel  in  London  and  with  special  prayer  give  thanks 
to  the  Almighty  for  our  deliverance  from  the  grave  in 
the  deep.  Next  day  and  other  days  came  and  went,  but 
thanksgiving  services  were  not  held.  It  was  evidently  a 
case  of  "  when  the  devil  was  ill,  the  devil  a  saint  would 
be,  when  the  devil  was  well,  the  devil  a  saint  was  he." 
But  our  harrowing  trip  was  not  without  its  great 
compensations.  Through  the  courtesy  of  Admiral  Sims 
we  sent  to  President  Wilson  a  code  message  giving  a 
detailed  account  of  the  overcrowding  of  our  boat,  sick- 
ness, deaths,  absence  of  medicines,  lack  of  doctors  and 
nurses,  telling  him  of  our  misgivings  before  sailing  and 
all  other  details.  We  received  no  reply,  expected  none, 
but  at  once  overcrowding  ceased  and  all  convoys  were 
provided  every  precaution  to  check  the  spread  of  influ- 
enza or  other  infectious  or  contagious  diseases. 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 


—  19  — 


CHAPTER  IV 


Tragedy  of  the  Sea 


The  wreck  of  the  Otranto  when  Rammed  by  a  Sister  Transport  The 
Kashmir — Lieutenant  Francis  Worthington  Craven  Command- 
ing the  English  Destroyer  Moursey  Immortalized  Himself  as  a 
Hero  Only  to  meet  a  Tragic,  Pathetic  Fate  After  World  War 
Ended. 

EGINNING  our  voyage  at  New  York, 
maledictions,  imprecations  and  ana- 
themas were  heaped  high  upon  the 
unhappy  heads  of  our  inviting  com- 
missioners because  of  their  broken 
promise  to  put  us  on  board  a  big,  swift 
5  steamship,  for  we  found  when  joining 
our  convoy  of  transports  that  we  had  been  placed  upon 
the  Orontes,  a  miserable  little  craft,  instead  of  being 
honored  with  quarters  on  our  fleet's  flagship — the 
Otranto.  Disappointment  and  dismay  had,  however, 
been  somewhat  mollified  by  one  of  our  Editorial  party 
who  vigorously  denounced  us  as  arrant  cowards,  wholly 
unworthy  and  unappreciative,  since  we  seemed  too 
proud  to  go  under  circumstances  and  environment 
fully  as  good  as  those  of  our  sons  who  had  pre- 
ceded us. 

Mutinous  utterances  ceased  in  the  face  of  so  conciliatory 
and  convincing  an  argument.  It  was  not  for  long,  how- 
ever. Complaints  and  misgivings  arose  afresh  when  in 
mid-ocean  we  seriously  discussed  the  feasibility  and 
justice  of  being  transferred  from  our  ship  to  the  Otranto. 

—  21  — 


World  War  So  wild  was  the  ocean  at  the  time  of  the  proposed  trans- 
At  Its  fer  that  our  captain  declared  he  could  listen  to  no  such 
Climax  foolhardy  suggestion. 

Early  Sunday,  October  6,  off  northeastern  Ireland,  from 
out  mountainous  waves,  there  arose  two  small  objects. 
They  resembled  old-fashioned  wooden  cradles,  such  as 
those  in  which  older  members  of  our  party  had  no  doubt 
been  rocked  in  babyhood.  There  was  this  difference, 
however,  no  human  hand  was  ever  powerful  enough  to 
agitate  cradles  as  old  ocean  in  an  angry  mood  tossed 
and  shook  and  rolled  our  steamships. 
Coming  nearer,  the  objects  proved  to  be  two  British 
destroyers.  One  of  them  wig- wagged  this  query:  "  We 've 
been  wirelessed  that  a  boat  in  about  this  latitude  and 
longitude  is  in  distress.  Are  you  that  boat?  ' 
Answering  '  No,"  word  was  added  that  the  Otranto, 
fully  equipped  with  wireless,  had  doubtless  sent  out  the 
S.  O.  S.  In  less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell,  our  interrog- 
ators disappeared  to  the  north  in  foaming  seas  and  we 
continued  our  desperate  fight  to  reach  Liverpool. 
For  two  days  we  were  buffeted  like  cockle-shells  until 
Liverpool's  domes  and  steeples  brightened  our  eyes  and 
gladdened  our  hearts.  Reaching  dock,  a  number  of  our 
ships,  upon  which  we  had  not  feasted  our  eyes  for  four 
days,  lay  at  anchor.  There  were  mysterious  rumors  of  a 
mishap  to  one  member  of  our  convoy  off  the  north 
coast  of  Ireland,  but  not  until  our  arrival  next  day  in 
London  did  we  learn  the  bitter  truth.  Admiral  Sims 
exacted  of  us  a  promise  not  to  divulge  the  story  of  the 
calamity  until  his  office  had  an  opportunity  to  investi- 
gate fully  and  obtain  all  the  facts.  And  the  sacredness  of 
that  promise  was  observed  until  Admiral  Sims  released 
us  from  our  pledges. 

Beyond  the  appalling  report  that  an  American  trans- 
port had  been  sunk  in  a  collision  and  several  hundred 

—  22  — 


American  troops  went  down  with  it,  news  came  out  only  World  War 
piecemeal.  Although  London  newspapers  were  in  full  At  Its 
possession  of  the  facts  which  they  withheld  because  a  QlilMKX 
law,  based  upon  necessity  and  known  as  the  Safety  of    ^ 
the  Realm  Act,  forbade  publication,  several  days  elapsed    • 
before    our    Editorial    party    was    permitted    to    print 
details  of  the  horror.  For  four  days  a  continual  tempest 
had  raged.  Old  sea-dogs  declared  it  the  worst  storm  in 
forty-five  years.  Our  convoy  of  fifteen  ships  was  blown 
apart  and  only  the  Kashmir  and  the  Otranto  had  kept 
in  sight  of  each  other.  Between  Glasgow,  Scotland,  and 
Belfast,  Ireland,  the  two  were  running  side  by  side,  the 
Otranto  on  the  Scottish  side  and  the  Kashmir  on  the 
Irish  side  of  the  channel.  The  captain  of  the  Otranto 
believed   all   boats    of   our   convoy    were   destined  for 
Liverpool.  The  Kashmir  was  the  one  exception  and  it 
turned  to  go  into  Glasgow.  With  the  mighty  force  of 
the  hurricane  back  of  her,   she  rammed   the  Otranto 
amidship.  When  the  ships  pulled  apart  it  was  found 
impossible  for  either  to  turn  around  to  help  the  other, 
and   they   realized    they    were    badly    rent    and 
damaged  so  so 

The  Otranto  made  for  the  Irish  coast  off  Belfast,  while 
the  Kashmir  put  on  all  steam  and  continued  toward 
Glasgow.  The  Captain  of  the  Otranto  attempted  to 
beach  her,  but  instead  hit  one  of  the  rocky  precipices 
that  skirt  the  shores  of  northern  Ireland,  and  the  ship 
was  pounding  herself  to  pieces  when  the  two  English 
destroyers  came  to  her  aid. 

Lieutenant  Francis  Worthington  Craven,  commanding 
the  destroyer  Moursey,  made  a  frantic  attempt  at 
rescue,  but  the  other  destroyer's  captain,  evidently 
believing  discretion  the  better  part  of  valor,  refrained 
from  standing  by.  Otranto's  captain,  knowing  his  ship 
was  doomed,  besought  Lieutenant  Craven  not  to  come 

—  23  — 


World  War  over,  declaring  it  meant  certain  suicide  for  himself  and 

At  Its  his  crew- 
n        >l  "Well,  it  must  be  suicide  then,"  was  his  reply,    '  for 

L/ LEVI  AX  ,  .  ,  ,, 

r     we  re  coming  over! 

*  Then  followed  most  awful  and  heartrending  scenes. 
Pinched  between  sinking  Otranto  and  rocky  shores- 
Lieutenant  Craven's  ship  was  torn  and  wrenched  while 
men  flung  themselves  from  the  deck  of  the  Otranto  to 
that  of  the  destroyer.  Miscalculating,  in  their  frenzy, 
many  fell  into  the  sea,  others  were  crushed  to  death 
between  tossing  ships,  while  others  in  jumping  to  the 
Otranto's  deck  sustained  broken  legs,  arms  or  ribs  or 
were  otherwise  injured. 

Three  trips  were  made  by  the  heroic  Craven,  landing 
alternately  his  injured,  dying  or  dead  cargo  at  Isley 
near  Glasgow  or  at  a  point  opposite  Belfast,  Ireland. 
Each  time  Otranto's  captain  protested  it  was  down- 
right madness,  only  to  receive  from  Lieutenant  Craven, 
who  himself  was  badly  hurt,  the  same  cool,  firm  and 
unvarying  reply  that  so  long  as  his  own  boat  could  be 
kept  afloat  or  the  Otranto  remained  above  water,  he 
would  keep  coming. 

Just  as  he  was  leaving  the  Belfast  pier  for  a  fourth  trip. 
Lieutenant  Craven  saw  the  Otranto  make  one  frightful 
plunge  and  sink  into  the  sea.  And  the  mighty  breakers 
rolled  on  in  all  their  anger  over  the  spot  where  the  ill- 
starred  Otranto  had  madly  tossed  and  struggled  a  few 
moments  before. 

It  was  providential  that  Lieutenant  Craven  had  pro- 
ceeded no  further  in  his  fourth  errand  of  mercy,  as  in 
making  for  Belfast  with  all  possible  speed  he  was  barely 
able  to  reach  there.  Experts  declared  that  had  he  con- 
tinued on  into  open  ocean  waters,  his  vessel  could 
never  have  lived,  so  badly  was  she  damaged.  While 
Lieutenant  Craven's  ship  went  into  dry  dock  for  repair 

—  24  — 


at  Belfast,  he  entered   a   hospital  where   his   injuries  World  War 
received  attention  and  where,  six  weeks  later,  we  found  ^T  jTS 
him,  with  many  others  whom  he  had  rescued,  and  learned  q  imax 
from  his  own  lips  this  story. 

Before  going  to  Ireland  our  party  had  visited  Scotland. 
There  in  a  ship-building  plant  on  the  river  Clyde,  near 
Glasgow,  we  saw  the  Kashmir,  her  prow  laid  wide  open 
for  twenty  feet,  the  rent  extending  from  water  line  to 
deck,  and  we  marvelled  how  she  had  managed  to  make 
her  way  to  Glasgow  in  such  a  seriously  crippled  con- 
dition through  foaming  seas. 

It  was  finally  announced  officially  that  four  hundred 
and  thirty-one  were  missing  and  five  hundred  ninety 
rescued,  of  whom  one  hundred  later  died,  as  the  awful 
toll  taken  bv  the  disaster.  It  was  related  to  us  as  a  fact 
that  had  the  Otranto  been  able  to  reach  a  point  a  thou- 
sand feet  further,  either  up  or  down  the  coast,  she 
would  have  landed  upon  sandy  beach  and  attained 
safety  instead  of  death  upon  the  rocks. 
Before  leaving  home  it  had  been  my  hope  that  I  should 
be  able  to  visit  and  drop  a  tear,  a  flower  and  a  prayer 
upon  the  grave  of  Lieut.  Philip  K.  Lighthall,  brave  and 
beloved  son  of  Syracuse,  who  lost  his  life  when  the  Tus- 
cania  went  dowm  off  the  Island  of  Islay.  The  body  was 
washed  ashore  and  buried  with  many  other  victims  in 
a  little  cemetery  in  this  rugged  promontory.  Since  going 
under  government  management,  however,  railroad 
schedules  had  been  greatly  disturbed,  and  a  trip  from 
Glasgow  to  Islay  and  return  was  now  a  matter  of  four 
days.  As  I  could  not  leave  my  party  for  more  than  a 
day,  I  regretfully  abandoned  the  idea. 
It  was  my  great  good  fortune,  however,  to  meet  at  the 
Lord  Provost's  dinner  in  Glasgow,  a  Rev.  Mr.  Clark, 
in  charge  of  one  of  the  churches  on  the  island.  He  was 
there  at  the  time  of  the  wreck  of  the  Tuscania  and  said 

—  25  — 


World  War  he  knew  all  about  the  burials  and  described  to  me  the 

At  Its  location  of  Lieutenant  Lighthall's  grave.  The  minister  said 

Climax  ne  was  enSaSe^  m  a  scheme  to  erect  an  appropriate 

'to    monument  to  the  Tuscania  victims  which  would  also 

•    include  those  of  the  Otranto. 

Similar  to  the  great  sorrow  attending  the  sinking  of  the 
Otranto  was  the  pathos  which  the  hero  of  it  encountered 
in  the  last  days  of  his  life. 

One  vear  after  Armistice  an  international  news  writer, 
in  London  for  one  of  the  big  American  syndicates,  was 
requested  by  a  member  of  our  Editorial  group  to  look 
up  Lieutenant  Craven.  Word  came  back  that  in  Great 
Britain's  disarmament  plan  he  had  been  discharged 
from  service  and,  with  wife  and  children  to  support, 
found  himself  in  straightened  circumstances.  Six  of  our 
party  most  readily  reached  were  appealed  to  and  a 
sizable  purse  was  raised  and  sent.  A  letter  of  gratitude 
came  back.  One  member  of  our  party,  having  learned 
what  had  been  done,  insisted  on  making  a  contribution. 
It,  as  a  second  installment,  was  sent  to  Lieutenant 
Craven,  or  rather,  to  our  representative  in  London. 
Before  this  second  contribution  reached  him  the  Asso- 
ciated Press  bore  news  that  two  davs  after  Lieutenant 
Craven  had  joined  the  Black  and  Tans  as  a  district 
inspector,  he  was  shot  to  death  at  Ballinalee,  Ireland, 
in  a  Sinn  Fein  uprising.  Unable  to  find  other  employ- 
ment to  feed  his  family,  he  had  volunteered  into  the 
British  constabulary. 

Crowning  a  rocky  promo tory  that  juts  out  into  the  sea 
at  a  point  near  Glasgow  is  the  rude,  picturesque  little 
settlement  of  Islay.  Here,  as  already  described,  were 
buried  bodies  of  our  American  boys  as  they  drifted 
ashore  after  a  German  submarine  had  torpedoed  the 
Tuscania  soon  following  America's  entrance  into  the 
World  War. 

—  26  — 


It  was  a  strange  coincidence  that  the  Tuscania,  the  only  World  War 
American   troopship  submarined  during  the  war,  and  At  Its 
the  Otranto,  the  only  American  troopship  lost  because  (JLIMAX 
of  a  storm,  met  their  fates  at  almost  an  identical  point    ^ 
in  the  Irish   Channel    between    Glasgow  and    Belfast.    * 
At  Islay,  too,  are,  or  rather  were,  as  nearly  all  have  been 
brought  back  to  America,  buried  many  bodies  washed 
ashore  from  the  Otranto.  At  the  dinner  in  Glasgow 
where  we  met  the  Rev.  Mr.  Clark,  a  resident  of  Islay 
who  officiated  at  most  of  the  burials,  and  an  American 
consul  at  that  place,  it  was  understood  by  our  party 
that  these  two  gentlemen  were  authorized  to  erect  at  Islay 
a  suitably  engraved  tablet  of  remembrance  to  the  vic- 
tims of  Tuscania  and  Otranto.  It  was  reported  at  an 
annual   reunion  dinner  of  our  group  at  the  Waldorf- 
Astoria,  New  York,  in  April  of  this  year,  that  only  a 
tentative  order  was  given  and  that  therefore  nothing 
had  come  of  the  matter.  Then  it  was  resolved  to  revive 
the  subject  at  once,  to  give  honorable  mention  upon  the 
tablet  to  Lieutenant  Craven  and  also  to  ascertain  why 
our  federal  government  had  not,  in  some  form  or  other, 
taken  cognizance  of  the  Lieutenant's  valorous  deeds  in 
saving  the  lives  of  hundreds  of  American  soldiers  at  the 
risk  of  losing  his  own  and  the  lives  of  his  crew. 


—  27 


=0 


«3 


CHAPTER  V 


Isolation  Complete  and  Gloomy 

Publishers  Cut  off  from  World  News  for  Fourteen  Dreary  Days — 
Constitute  Themselves  a  Board  of  Inquiry  and  Get  Valuable 
Information  Bearing  Upon  their  Mission  Abroad. 

JOURTEEN  long  days  entirely  outside 
of  world  affairs  was  an  experience 
hitherto  unknown  to  a  galaxy  of  news- 
paper publishers,  wireless  messages 
being  only  for  our  flagship — the 
Otranto  &*»  so 

Occasionally  a  flag  at  half-mast  on 
another  ship  of  our  convoy  denoted  a  death  aboard  and 
was  practically  all  the  news  we  had  of  the  flotilla  of 
which  we  were  a  part. 

Liquor  was  not  sold  to  soldiers,  although  there  was  a  bar 
aboard,  and  civilians  and  some  officers  were  permitted  to 
buy.  Each  member  of  our  party  was  provided  by  our 
English  hosts  with  a  quart  of  old  brandy  for  prevention 
of  sea  sickness,  but  on  the  second  day  out  we  gave  the 
entire  allowance  to  the  ship's  surgeons  to  be  used  as 
medicine  among  our  American  troops  suffering  from 
influenza  and  pneumonia. 

The  publishers  as  a  distraction  and  to  gain  desired 
knowledge  decided  to  turn  themselves  into  a  Board 
of  Inquiry  before  which  they  would  summon  witnesses 
among  the  civilians  on  board  who  might  enlighten 
them  upon  things  pertinent  to  their  trip. 
A  Mr.  Crooks  of  Liverpool  thought  Ireland  incapable  of 
self  government.  With  a  majority  in  the  house,  should 

—  20  — 


World  War  they  get  home  rule  they  would  immediately  erect  a  bar- 
At  Its  rier  against  England  by  a  prohibitory  tariff.  Lloyd  George 
Climax  was'  ne  said,  by  all  odds  the  strongest  man  in  Britain, 
i  Asquith  weak,  promising  many  things  and  doing 
*  nothing.  Mr.  Crooks  had  been  to  America  purchasing 
for  England  material,  mostly  woods  for  airplanes. 
Next  was  a  W.  Davidson  who,  with  his  wife,  seemed 
overjoyed  at  being  homeward  bound,  notwithstanding 
the  gloomy  conditions  on  shipboard.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Davidson  were  returning  from  Russia  after  a  twenty 
years'  residence,  where  the  former  had  represented  one 
of  the  biggest  Bible  publishing  houses  in  the  world,  had 
accumulated  a  fortune  and  built  one  of  the  finest  resi- 
dences in  Western  Russia.  Then  came  war.  Finally 
Russia  collapsed,  followed  by  Soviet  misgovernment,  of 
which  little  was  then  known  outside  of  Russia,  but  of 
which  the  world  has  since  acquired  ample  and  bitter 
knowledge.  Bolshevism  sprang  up,  and  Mr.  Davidson 
resolved  to  fly  the  country.  Glad  to  escape  with  their 
lives,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davidson,  after  allowing  their  real 
estate  to  be  confiscated,  fled  for  Vladivostock  whence 
they  were  to  ship  to  San  Francisco,  from  which  point 
they  were  to  proceed  home.  Jewelry  and  negotiable 
securities  were  taken  along,  but  money,  bonds  and  other 
securities  were  left  behind  in  banks.  With  their  journey 
began  terrible  persecutions.  At  nearly  every  sizable 
trans-Siberian  railway  station  they  were  seized,  upon 
some  pretext  or  other,  and  money  was  extorted.  In 
many  instances  they  had  been  cast  into  loathsome  jails 
until  they  paid  the  demanded  ransom.  News  of  their 
coming  preceded  them  and  confederates  intercepted 
them  at  the  next  station.  Up  to  the  time  of  leaving  New 
York  the  couple  had  been  eight  months  away  from  their 
Russian  home.  They  had  succeeded  in  secreting  barely 
enough  money  to  pay  their  way  back  to  England. 

—  30  — 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davidson  said  they  believed  eventually 
their  beautiful  home  and  real  estate  would  be  restored 
to  them,  but  declared  they  would  n't  return  again 
"  for  all  Russia." 

On  the  first  evening  out  of  New  York  I  met  L.  Barring- 
ton  Simeon,  Lieutenant  of  the  First  Highland  Light 
Infantry.  The  day  before  sailing  I  had  chanced  to  meet 
him  at  the  vise  office  in  New  York.  Lieutenant  Simeon 
was  30,  of  giant  stature,  much  traveled  and  an  intensely 
interesting  chap.  It  was  his  twenty-sixth  crossing.  Three 
times  he  had  rounded  the  world,  had  served  Great  Britain 
in  India,  organized  the  Mounted  Police  of  Northwestern 
Canada,  had  been  in  the  Friendly,  Fiji  and  Samoan 
Islands  in  the  South  Seas  in  the  interests  of  his  govern- 
ment, had  fought  in  Mesopotamia  under  General 
Allenby,  where  nine  months  before  he  was  shot  through 
the  lung  by  a  Turkish  sniper,  and  was  sent  to  the  Isle 
of  Wight  to  recuperate.  Then  he  was  sent  to  America 
on  a  secret  mission  for  the  British  government.  It 
seemed  to  be  his  boast,  however,  that  he  was  a  born 
fighter  and  not  a  diplomat.  He  was  eager  to  get  back 
into  the  fray  at  the  head  of  his  regiment,  but  feared  his 
government  would  not  permit  him  to  return. 
Turks,  the  Lieutenant  told  us,  were  the  cleanest  fighters 
in  the  world  except  when  in  combat  with  Aaserteans,  when 
they  became  demons  incarnate  because  of  religious 
fanaticism.  Then  nothing  short  of  complete  extermina- 
tion seemed  to  satisfy  them,  so  diabolical  were  their 
methods  s*  s*> 

An  English  merchant  who  asked  us  to  be  allowed  to 
remain  anonymous,  returning  from  America  where  he 
had  gone  on  a  government  errand,  gave  our  Board  the 
English  side  of  the  Irish  question.  England,  he  believed, 
would  not  consent  to  Irish  separation  and,  without 
prejudice,  it  was  his  opinion  it  would  be  the  worst  thing 

—  31  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 


World  War  that  could  happen  to  Ireland.  In  his  judgment,  Ireland 
At  Its  was  incapable  of  self-government. 
Climax  ^ar  an<^  awav  ^ne  niost  intellectual  man  to  come  before 
^  our  Board  was  F.  Maginn  of  Warrington,  England,  who 
*  followed  the  Englishman  and  combated  all  his  argu- 
ments. He  was  a  manufacturer  of  some  sort  and  had 
been  in  America  to  buy  American  machinery.  In  order 
to  obtain  permission  to  come  to  America  at  that  time, 
England  exacted  of  all  more  than  a  business  reason  for 
leaving  home,  and  accordingly  he  was  appointed  by 
England,  on  account  of  his  literary  ability,  to  look  into 
school  text  books  in  use  in  American  schools,  colleges 
and  universities.  This  gave  color  to  the  report  which 
Mr.  Patterson  of  Chicago  had  brought  up  in  his  speech 
at  Sherry's  the  night  before  we  sailed — that  England 
complained  of  our  text  books  as  containing  things  deroga- 
tory to  her.  Mr.  Maginn, in  his  official  capacity,  had  visit- 
ed Washington,  Philadelphia,  Minneapolis  and  Chicago. 
But  of  this  he  would  speak  no  further. 
Mr.  Maginn  had  lived  in  England  eighteen  years  and 
found  Englishmen  the  best  people  on  earth  among  whom 
to  live.  As  an  Irishman  he  owed  allegiance  to  Ireland. 
He  went  over  the  high  spots  in  Irish  history  for  a  hun- 
dred years;  every  act  of  home  rule  or  land  legislation 
was  on  the  tip  of  his  tongue.  Ireland's  cause  was  his 
cause,  her  people  were  his  people  and  her  welfare  was 
his  welfare  and  he  must  be  with  her  forever,  right  or 
wrong.  His  business  partner  and  all  his  relatives  were 
in  war  before  the  draft  and  he  could  not  find  it  in  his 
heart  to  censure  Ireland  because  she  resisted  conscrip- 
tion. Then  he  broke  down  and  cried  bitterly,  declaring 
it  was  the  regret  of  his  life  that  Ireland  could  not  see 
her  way  clear  to  be  in  the  war  just  as  she  was  before 
conscription. 


—  32 


PART  II 


England 


A  Day  with  King  George,  Queen 
Mary,  Dowager  Queen  Alex- 
andra and  Princesses 
Mary  and  Louise 


Viscount  Northcliffe  a  Gracious 
and  Generous  Host 


Balfour  and  the  English  Speak- 
ing Union 

Visits  to  the  Tower  of  London, 

St.  Dunstan  and  The 

Times  Plant 


'  VL  '  'i'l 

! 

V'    ,1  1 


feq 


V 
to 


a 
a 


8 


e 


^ 


:    ■ 


CHAPTER  VI 


In  Dear  Ole  Lunnon 

Getting  Under  Way  in  the  First  Twenty-Four  Hours — Had  They 
Waited  Until  Fully  Prepared  Allies  Might  Have  Won  the  War 
With  Tanks — On  the  Contrary  Germany  Coidd  Have  Done  the 
Same  Thing,  if  They  had  had  Enough  Poison  Gas  on  Hand 
When  They  First  Began  Its  Use. 

\T  LIVERPOOL  we  were  met  at  pier 
by  an  able  and  courteous  committee, 
a  delegation  of  the  British  Ministry  of 
Information,  escorted  to  the  Adelphi, 
said  to  be  Great  Britain's  best  hotel,  if 
not  the  best  in  all  Europe,  where  a  real 
supper,  a  Turkish  bath,  luxurious 
rooms  and  a  comfortable  bed,  in  a  measure  at  least,  dis- 
pelled the  horrors  of  our  tempestuous  journey  and  a 
wretched  two  weeks  aboard  the  Orontes. 
The  next  day  our  hosts  took  us  aboard  a  special  car 
bound  for  London.  We  did  not  realize  then,  but  soon 
found  out  that  our  privations  and  hardships,  so  far  as 
courtesy,  intelligent  care  and  gracious  and  distinguished 
attention  could  amend,  ended  when  we  stepped  off 
deck  at  Liverpool. 

Arriving  in  London  early  in  the  afternoon,  we  found  at 
the  Savoy  Hotel  the  Ministry  of  Information  awaiting 
us  with  an  excellent  luncheon,  after  which  we  were 
assigned  to  the  best  suites  in  the  hostelry,  given  the  use 
of  an  immense  assembly  room  with  anterooms  and  lob- 
bies and  two  secretaries  and  a  number  of  typists  to  take 
dictation,  write  letters  or  telegrams  or  do  any  errands 

—  35  — 


World  War  which  we  should  entrust  to  them.  These  were  to  be  our 
At  Its  headquarters  whenever  in  London  during  our  stay  in 
Climax  Europe  so  so 

&    Then,  we  were  informed  by  our  hosts,  we  should  be  left 
*     quite  alone  until  next  day  to  unpack,  look  after  our 
laundry  or  rest  or  in  any  other  way  exercise  our  own 
sweet  will  to  our  hearts'  content. 

When  we  arose  next  morning  we  were  told  that  Vis- 
count Northcliffe  would  call  promptly  at  ten  o'clock, 
and  every  one  was  commanded  to  be  punctual  at  head- 
quarters. On  the  stroke  of  the  hour,  Lord  Northcliffe 
walked  into  our  offices.  His  dash  and  strenuousness 
reminded  me  of  former  President  Roosevelt  in  his 
earlier  years.  After  a  most  cordial  welcome  he  bade  us 
lunch  with  him  next  day  in  The  Times  home  in  Printing 
House  Square,  warned  us  to  zealously  guard  our  health, 
as  Spanish  influenza  had  come  to  London,  said  he  had 
directed  a  young  woman,  superintendent  of  his  stenog- 
raphers and  typists,  to  detail  us  all  the  secretaries  we 
wished,  to  do  our  work.  We  were,  if  we  preferred,  to  go 
to  The  Times  office  or  call  upon  it  for  anything  needed. 
After  a  half  hour's  chat  upon  war  topics,  in  which  he 
imparted  confidentially  a  vast  amount  of  war  news  that 
could  not  then  be  printed,  he  withdrew. 
At  eleven  A.  M.  we  were  taken  in  automobiles  to 
Cricklewood,  where  we  were  shown  an  immense  field 
of  bombing  tanks.  We  were  given  a  ride  over  the  muddy 
field  in  them,  the  different  makes  with  their  several 
points  of  advantages  explained,  all  of  which  imparted  a 
thrill  and  was  extremely  interesting. 
It  was  an  open  secret  that  a  tactical  blunder  had  been 
made  by  Allied  forces  in  prematurely  introducing  tanks 
into  the  war.  With  the  usual  reserve  and  caution  of  the 
English,  only  a  few  were  made  when  they  were  sent  into 
action.  German  ingenuity  quickly  saw  their  great  pos- 

—  36  — 


sibilities  and  power  and  at  once  adopted  them  and  was  World  War 
capable  of  making  them  as  rapidly,  if  not  more  rapidly,  At  Its 
than  the  Allies.   Had  Allies  waited  until  a  sufficient  Climax 
number  were  made  before  putting  them  in  use,  our  host 
declared,  war  would  have  been  won,  as  these  wonderful 
inventions,  he  believed,  would  have  gone  through  wicked 
barbed  wire  entanglements  and  the  boasted  impenetrable 
Hindenburg    line    like    a    knife    through    cheese.    We 
reminded  our  informant  that  had  Germany  been  less 
hasty  and  better  prepared  when  she  sprung  the  damn- 
able poison  gas  she  could  have  ended  the  war.  But  she 
could  not  get  enough  of  it  before  Allies  resorted  to  it, 
besides  quickly  discovering  the  gas  mask  and  putting 
it  in  use. 

A  captain  in  charge  of  the  field  sought  me  out  and  said 
he  was  George  Grossmith,  that  he  had  often  been  in 
Syracuse,  and  for  several  years  had  traveled  with  our 
own  Edna  May.  He  turned  out  to  be  the  well-known 
English  actor,  son  of  the  great  actor  of  that  name,  who 
had  given  up  his  profession  to  do  his  bit  in  winning  the 
war  s^  s— 


37  — 


CHAPTER  VII 


Meeting  England's  Great  Luminaries 

Viscount  Northclijfes  Memorable  Luncheon  Punctuated  with 
Brilliant  Speeches — Magazine  Men  and  Newspaper  Publishers 
Called  Together  by  Lord  'Northcliffe  to  Get  Acquainted  with 
Some  of  the  Great  Minds  Active  in  World  War  Affairs. 

[ISCOUNT  NORTHCLIFFE  stood  in 
an  anteroom  of  the  big  banquet  hall 
of  the  historic  Times  building  and 
shook  hands  with  each  guest,  calling 
many  by  name,  although  he  had  seen 
us  but  once  before.  Then  we  were  direct- 
ed to  the  cloak  room  and  next  to  the 
dining  hall.  At  the  entrance  to  the  latter  was  an 
easel  upon  which  stood  an  immense  diagram  of  the  tables. 
My  heart  leaped  into  my  mouth  as  I  read  that  I  was 
placed  next  Rudyard  Kipling.  From  its  hour  of  serving 
it  was  called  a  luncheon,  but  it  proved  to  be  a  feast 
worthy  of  Lucullus.  We  met  here  the  first  or  magazine 
party  who  had  just  returned  from  France  and  the  fight- 
ing fronts  and  were  to  return  to  America  in  a  few  days, 
the  Viscount  having  planned  thus  pleasantly  to  bring 
us  together.  When  we  were  seated  around  the  festive 
board,  a  panoplied  butler,  a  sort  of  major  domo,  stood 
behind  our  titled  host,  who  sat  in  a  throne-like  chair  at 
the  head  of  the  table.  Each  event  was  announced  with 
profound  formality  as  follows : 

'  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen:  I  beg  you  give  ear  and 
listen  to  Viscount  Northcliffe." 
And  again: 

—  39  — 


World  War  "  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen  :  Viscount  Northcliffe  prays 
At  Its  y°u  charge  your  glass  and  drink  to  the  health  of  the 
Climax  King  ano1  *ne  President." 

Glasses  were  charged  as  commanded  with  best  vintages 
of  pre- Volstead  days  and  every  one  arose  and,  holding 
his  glass  high,  chorused: 
"  The  King  and  the  President." 

On  taking  my  seat  I  found  I  was  not  to  sit  next  Rudyard 
Kipling.  I  was  familiar  with  his  picture  and  knew  the 
man  next  me  was  not  he,  but,  as  I  quickly  learned,  the 
Editor  of  The  Mail,  Viscount  Northcliffe's  great  evening 
newspaper  s»»  so 

Lord  Northcliffe  explained  he  would  have  wished  more 
of  the  English  newspaper  and  magazine  men  to  be 
present,  but  lack  of  time  forbade.  Lloyd  George,  Prime 
Minister,  had  a  war  engagement  which  prevented  his 
attendance;  Balfour  telegraphed  he  was  to  entertain 
the  Editors  next  day;  Kipling  that  he  had  missed  his 
train  in  France  and  was  unable  to  make  connections; 
Lord  Tennyson  that  he  was  ill  at  his  home  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  but  his  latch  string  there  was  out  to  the  Editors 
where  he  'd  gladly  receive  them  if  only  they  'd  come. 
1$  Then  Lord  Northcliffe  proposed  a  toast  to  the  Ameri- 
can Editors  and  said: 

"  I  can  assure  you  it  is  most  gratifying  to  us  in  Printing 
House-square  that  so  goodly  a  company  should  come 
together.  Our  American  friends  are  divided  today  in  this 
room  into  two  companies.  The  first  company  are  those 
who  arrived  in  England  some  time  ago  and  have  had 
the  thrilling  experience  of  seeing  the  Great  War  at  first 
hand,  and  who  are  now  on  their  way  back  to  the  United 
States.  The  second  division  are  those  who  have  just 
arrived  in  England  after  a  terrible  experience  in  the 
Atlantic  and  who  are  leaving  us  for  France  in  a  very 
few  hours. 

—  40  — 


"  Most  of  our  American  friends  of  the  first  party,  I 
understand,  have  listened  to  over  a  hundred  speeches. 
They  have  eaten  more  than  a  hundred  luncheons  and 
dinners.  They  would  agree  with  me,  I  am  sure,  that 
ordinary  war  oratory  is  a  little  tiresome.  Yet  I  can  not 
let  this  company  part  without  telling  you  as  one  who 
had  the  pleasure  of  being  in  the  United  States  during 
its  great  awakening  that  our  guests  today  constitute 
a  very  powerful  and  very  formidable  body  of  public 
opinion  in  the  Great  Republic.  Their  circulations — if  I 
may  mention  a  delicate  topic  in  newspaper  circles — on 
what  they  call  a  conservative  basis,  amount  to  fifteen 
billion  of  copies.  They  come  from  a  country  which  has 
two  excellent  laws:  The  name  of  every  shareholder  in  a 
newspaper  has  to  be  made  public,  and  the  cir- 
culation manager  has  to  reveal  the  secrets  of  his 
sanctum  s*  s& 

"  Our  friends,  having  witnessed  the  sufferings  of  France 
and  of  Belgium,  are  going  back  to  tell  their  country 
that  the  intervention  of  the  United  States  is,  to  use  one 
of  their  own  phrases,  worth  while.  When  I  was  in  America 
last  year  I  wondered  at  the  strange  phenomenon  of  the 
rising  young  men  of  that  nation,  many  of  them  resident 
hundreds,  thousands  of  miles  from  the  sea,  drawn  by 
some  mysterious  instinct  to  leave  their  prosperous  lives 
to  come  on  this  mission  across  the  Atlantic.  Their  cru- 
sade is  one  of  the  great  miracles  of  the  world.  We  who 
are  here,  especially  those  who  have  been  to  the  front, 
are  so  apt  to  dwell  upon  the  dreadful  aspects  of  war 
that  it  may  be  wise  to  think  of  some  of  the  things  that 
are  not  so  dreadful.  We  can  reflect  with  admiration  on 
the  ease  with  which  a  nation  has  been  transported  across 
the  Atlantic.  We  can  dwell  upon  the  popularizing  of  the 
means  of  communication,  such  as  wireless  telegraphy, 
and  the  extension  of  flight.  We  can  comfort  ourselves 

—  41  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 

? 


World  War  that  these  developments  make  for  a  better  understand- 
At  Its  m8'  between  the  peoples  of  the  future. 
Climax  '^U  these  accomplishments  point  to  a  world  in  which  a 
^  League  of  Nations  would  be  a  much  more  easy  thing  to 
*  manage  than  it  might  have  been  before  these  means  of 
communication  were  perfected,  and  it  is  a  fact  that  war 
has  perfected  them  more  rapidly  than  many,  many 
years  of  peace.  We  have  to  look — we  who  are  engaged 
in  the  business  of  spreading  public  intelligence — at  the 
effect  on  our  own  industry  of  some  of  these  develop- 
ments. Take  flight,  for  example.  Will  flight  concentrate 
newspaper  production  into  one  or  two  hands  in  great 
centers  whence  the  newspapers  may  be  disseminated 
by  flying  machines?  Personally,  I  do  not  think  it  will. 
I  know  that  there  are  provincial  communities  appre- 
hensive of  the  destruction  of  their  own  local  public 
opinion — one  of  the  most  valuable  inspirations  towards 
national  judgment.  They  are  afraid  that  a  metropolis 
may  dominate  public  opinion  by  newspapers  spreading 
from  that  metropolis.  That  has  not  been  the  effect  in 
this  country  of  newspapers  which,  like  one  of  my  own, 
are  dispersed  from  one  center.  These  newspapers  have 
had  no  effect  whatever  on  the  standing  of  newspapers 
voicing  local  public  opinion  and  local  public  thought. 
The  maintenance  of  local  public  opinion  is  essential. 
We  know,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  though  not  so  well  as  we 
ought,  that  the  voice  of  New  York,  which  is  the  voice 
we  hear  most  often  in  England,  is  not  at  all  the  voice 
of  the  whole  of  the  United  States,  any  more  than  the 
voice  of  London  is  the  voice  of  the  North  of  England 
or  of  Scotland.  We  know  that  those  in  the  United  States 
who  are  scanning  the  public  opinion  of  America  as  to 
war  looked  with  eagerness  to  the  Middle  West  and  the 
Far  West  and  the  South.  They  looked  beyond  New 
England  and  the  seaboard  States,  and  they  measured 

—  42  — 


very  carefully  all  those  opinions  to  see  that  the  whole  World  War 
country    was    unanimous.    Eventually    public    opinion  \T  iTS 
became  unanimous,  not  because  the  United  States  has  cLIMAX 
anything  to  get  out  of  this  war — it  has  nothing  what-    * 
ever  to  get  out  of  it — but  because  of  an  overwhelming    * 
instinct  to  rise  to  the  cause  of  justice. 
"  These  gatherings  of  Englishmen  and  American  men  are 
the  outcome  of  a  new  department  in  our  Government,  a 
department  that  must  and  I  hope  will  be  a  permanent 
department,  the  Department  of  Information.  Owing  to 
ill-health,  Lord  Beaverbrook,  to  whose  vision  the  bring- 
ing together  of  the  editors  of  the  United  States  and  the 
editors  of  Great  Britain  is  due,  is  unable  to  be  here 
today.  I  consider  that  the  efforts  he  is  making  to  bring 
us  together  are  well  worthy  of  the  cause  in  which  we  are 
engaged.    This    getting    together    of    Englishmen    and 
American  men  may  sound  a  very  obvious  suggestion, 
but  no  one  has  given  effect  to  it  before.  It  is  due  to 
Lord  Beaverbrook  and  his  Department  that  we  are  all 
here  together.  I  ask  our  English  friends  to  rise  and  drink 
to  the  health  of  our  guests  and  their  fifteen  billions 
circulation."  s&  so» 

Mr.  F.  P.  Glass,  Birmingham,  Alabama,  News,  chair- 
man of  the  second  group  of  American  editors,  replied 
to  the  toast.  He  said: — 

"  It  is  an  unusual  honor  and  privilege  to  be  present  on 
this  occasion,  and  I  esteem  it  very,  very  deeply.  I  wish 
to  thank  Lord  Northcliffe  and  the  other  distinguished 
Britishers  who  are  here,  and  your  Cabinet,  your  Govern- 
ment, and  Lord  Beaverbrook,  who  has  so  very  wisely, 
I  think,  initiated  this  important  movement  in  bringing 
representative  newspaper  men  and  magazine  men  from 
the  United  States  to  this  country.  I  believe  it  is  going  to 
accomplish  a  great  deal  of  good.  Speaking  for  one  igno- 
ramus like  myself,  who  has  never  had  the  privilege  of 

—  43  — 


World  War  visiting  this  great  Mother  Country  before,  I  am  sure  I 
At  Its  am  going  to  be  instructed  and  guided  and  deepened 
Climax  ana-  Denefit;ed  more  than  by  anything  that  has  happened 
'^    in  my  experience  in  a  number  of  years  past.  I  am  sure 
■     that  every  one  of  our  party  will  go  back  far  better 
equipped,  far  more  useful,  and,  I  hope,  far  more  influ- 
ential (in  spite  of  our  limited  circulation)  than  we  have 
ever  been  before. 

;  We  are  delighted  with  the  hospitality  shown  to  us  on 
all  sides. 

"  We  have  been  greeted  even  by  the  heavens 
with  charm.  We  had  a  beautiful  sunny  day  coming  from 
Liverpool  to  London,  and  the  dismal  fog  we  have  heard 
about  was  not  here.  The  sunshine  in  the  heart  and  mind 
of  every  Englishman  with  whom  we  have  come  in  con- 
tact has  only  reiterated  and  confirmed  our  reception  on 
the  first  day  from  the  elements.  We  in  America  are 
tremendously  interested  in  this  attack  in  France.  We 
are  delighted  to  be  here  today  following  the  magnificent 
victory  of  the  British  armies  in  France,  and  we  hope 
before  many  weeks  have  passed  by  there  may  be 
equivalent  victories  on  the  part  of  the  French,  and  per- 
haps something  more  of  the  kind  from  General  Pershing, 
our  great  leader  there,  with  his  increasing  force. 
;  You  spoke,  my  lord,  of  the  great  difficulties  we  had  in 
coming  over  on  ship.  We  had  very  great  discomfort  from 
the  weather  and  sickness,  and  various  conditions  not 
necessary  to  mention.  Very  little  news  came  to  our  ship. 
The  wireless  was  not  working  all  the  time,  or  we  were 
not  trusted  with  much  of  its  winged  news.  There  was  a 
rumor  afloat  that  Bulgaria  had  sued  for  peace,  and 
that  the  war  might  end  right  away,  before  we  could  see 
it.  Among  the  eighteen  hundred  troops  on  board  the 
constant  expression  of  officers  and  men  was  this:  '  Sup- 
pose before  we  get  there  it  is  all  over.'  These  men,  in 

—  44  — 


spite  of  the  dangers  to  which  they  were  exposed,  wanted  World  War 
to  get  to  France  to  take  part  in  the  great  victory  which  At  Its 
we  are  going  to  achieve.  I  have  been  very  much  pleased  Climax 
by  the  tribute  Lord  Northcliffe  has  paid  to  the  spirit 
of  the  American  people,  which  he  had  unusual  oppor- 
tunities of  discerning  during  his  residence  in  the  United 
States.  We  have  been  thought  to  be  only  a  dollar-loving 
people,  and  I  must  confess  that  some  of  our  newspaper 
and  magazine  people  have  in  the  past  watched  the  dollar 
pretty  closely.  Some  of  them  have  made  a  few  dollars 
now  and  then.  We  are,  after  all,  a  nation  of  idealists. 
We  are  born  of  British  blood,  most  of  us.  We  have  the 
highest  regard  and  veneration  for  the  fundamental 
principles  of  justice.  All  our  laws  and  constitutions  are 
bottomed  on  the  common  law  of  England.  Our  own 
Declaration  is  only  a  renewal  of  the  Magna  Charta  of 
vour  countrv,  and  we  are  determined,  as  far  as  we  may 
be  able,  to  insist  in  establishing  these  principles  through- 
out the  world.  We  hope  out  of  this  war  will  come  a 
day  of  sunshine  for  all  the  world,  in  which  there  will 
be  real  international  law,  some  sort  of  international 
court,  and  maybe  some  sort  of  international  police  to 
enforce  the  ruling  of  that  court.  English  justice, 
American  justice,  English  and  French  and  American 
ideals,  must  prevail  in  the  world,  and,  God  willing, 
they  shall." 

Dr.  Edward  J.  Wheeler,  Everybody's  Magazine,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  first  group  of  editors,  also  replied  to  the 
toast. 

^  He  expressed  diffidence  in  speaking  for  the  American 
editors  and  for  his  country  before  a  group  of  critical 
American  newspaper  men. 

"  Down  in  Charlestown,  West  Virginia,  years  ago,"  he 
said,  "  there  was  an  old  darkey  who  had  a  chance  to  buy 
a  tombstone  at  a  bargain.  He  took  the  chance,  and 

—  45  — 


World  War  wanted  some  sort  of  fitting  epitaph  put  on  the  stone 

At  Its  against  the  day  of  his  death.  He  went  to  a  lawyer  friend 

Climax  °^  n*s'  anc^  as^e(l  him  to  write  the  epitaph.  The  lawyer, 

^    after  thinking  for  a  few  minutes,  wrote  it  in  the  follow- 

■     ing  words,  and  I  am  told  they  are  on  the  tombstone 

today  in  Charlestown:,  '  I  did  n't  come  here  for  to  do 

no  harm.' 

"  I  think  that  applies  to  us  American  editors.  We 
'  did  n't  come  here  to  do  no  harm.'  I  think  the  facts  will 
bear  us  out  that  we  have  not  done  any  harm.  Our 
journey,  that  of  the  first  group,  has  been  a  triumphal 
procession  from  the  beginning.  Almost  as  soon  as  we 
left  New  York  we  began  to  receive  wireless  news  that 
the  Central  Powers  were  trembling  and  retreating.  By 
the  time  we  reached  Great  Britain  we  found  that  the 
Allies  were  pushing  their  line  forward  on  all  the  nine 
fronts  throughout  the  world.  By  the  time  we  reached 
Paris  we  found  that  one  of  the  Central  Powers  had 
already  sued  for  peace.  By  the  time  we  got  back  to 
England  we  found  that  all  the  Central  Powers  were 
asking  for  an  armistice  and  for  terms  of  peace.  We  think 
a  very  good  case  could  be  made  out  to  show  that  the 
group  of  American  editors  who  first  came  over  here  have 
been  winning  the  war.  By  the  time  the  second  group 
have  left  they  will  be  convinced  that  they  have  been 
winning  the  war.  I  do  not  think  we  are  going  to  have  a 
chance  of  sending  over  more  than  three  or  four  groups. 
No  more  will  be  necessary. 

"  In  the  last  month  we  have  had  more  mental  impres- 
sions than  we  can  assimilate  in  another  year,  and  we 
have  been  placed  under  more  social  obligations  than  we 
can  ever  hope  to  repay.  The  impressions  we  take  away 
are  mixed,  and  yet  some  of  them  are  coming  out  more 
and  more  clearly  and  distinctly. 

"  I  think  one  of  them  that  we  take  away  from  England 

—  46  — 


is  that  the  old  bulldog  that  stands  for  the  symbol  of  World  War 
English  determination  and  pluck  is  a  most  excellent  At  Its 
symbol.  We  have  seen  the  grit  of  your  people  mani-  Clim\x 
fested,  not  only  in  their  words  and  deeds,  but  in  the    * 
cheerful  smiles  of  your  women.  The  Bulldog  is  all  right,    * 
but  the  worst  national  symbol  I  know  of  today  is  the 
Gallic  cock  of  France.  France  is  doing  no  strutting  and 
no  crowing.   The  Gallic  cock  will  not   do   for   France 
today. 

^  "  These  are  some  of  the  impressions  that  we  carry 
away.  The  mass  of  the  impressions  we  can  not  assimi- 
late, much  less  describe.  You  said,  my  lord,  that  America 
had  nothing  to  gain  from  this  war.  I  think  that  is  abso- 
lutely true  as  you  meant  it,  and  yet,  in  another  sense, 
America  has  just  as  much  to  gain  as  England  or  France 
or  any  other  country  in  the  wide  world.  We  are  not  at 
war  for  England,  or  Belgium,  or  France,  or  Italy.  We 
are  at  war  just  as  much  for  America,  for  the  United 
States,  as  you  are  at  war  for  yourselves  and  France  is  at 
war  for  France.  Although  our  country  has  not  been 
invaded,  and  although  there  is  no  fear  of  invasion 
during  the  war,  yet  we  know  we  are  fighting  just  as 
much  for  ourselves,  for  the  defence  of  our  institutions, 
the  defence  of  our  liberties  and  our  civilization,  as  any 
other  country.  It  is  just  as  much  America's  fight  as  it 
is  vours." 
Others  present  at  this  function  beside  newspaper  and 


magazine  men  were: 


Mr.  Irwin  Laughlin,  American  Charge  d'  Affaires,  the 
Earl  of  Reading,  G.  C.  B.,  Lord  Burnham,  Lord  Roth- 
ermere,  Vice- Admiral  W.  S.  Sims,  G.  C.  M.  G.,  Mr.  E. 
C.  Schoecraft,  Sir  A.  Conan  Doyle,  Mr.  H.  G.  Guy 
Gaunt,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Sir  Campbell  Stuart,  K.B.E., 
Major  Evelyn  Wrench,  C.  M.  G.,  Colonel  the  Hon. 
A.  G.  Murray,  M.  P.,  Mr.  H.  J.  Learoyd,  Mr.  Valentine 

—  47  — 


World  War  Wallace,  Mr.  W.  Sutherland,  and  Mr.  G.  A.  Sutton. 
At  Its  Mr-  W.  A.  Auckland,  Mr.  C.  I.  Beattie,  Mr.  J.  P.  Bland, 
Climax  Mr-  G'  M*  Barnwell,  Mr.  H.  Corbett,  Mr.  M.  Hum- 
to    phrey  Davy,  Mr.  Geoffrey  Dawson,  Mr.  Lloyd  Evans, 
*    Mr.  T.  E.  Mackenzie,  Mr.  H.  G.  Price,  0.  B.  E.,  !Mr. 
W.  Lints  Smith,  and  Mr.  H.  W.  Steed. 


Lord  Northcliffe 


48 


CHAPTER  VIII 


szzZ^ 

n 

nNErSSSf  Lir\ 

^tf\ 

H 

% 

^^Vk^BRZA 

The  English-Speaking  Union 

Balfour  s  Epochal  Speech  which  Caustically  Arraigned  Germany 
and  Contained  a  Few  Important  Prophecies — Acknowledged 
the  Great  Part  America  Was  Taking  in  Winning  the  War  and 
said  She  Alone  Had  the  Power  and  the  Ability  to  Help  Ger- 
many in  a  Material  Way. 

|MONG  notable  dinners  earlv  after  our 
arrival  in  London,  given  in  our  honor, 
was  that  of  the  English  Speaking 
Union,  of  which  Arthur  J.Balfour  was, 
and  I  believe  still  is,  president.  Among 
those  present  were  Admiral  Sims  of 
the  United  States  Navy,  Major  Gen- 
eral JBiddle  of  the  United  States  Army,  Major  Evelyn 
Wrench,  Major-General  Swinton,  Colonel  McClamouth, 
M.  P.,  Sir  Fortescue  Flannery,  M.  P.,  Sir  Campbell 
Stuart,  Sir  Harry  Brittain,  H.  Gordon  Selfridge,  form- 
erly of  Chicago,  now  London's  merchant  prince,  where 
he  adopted  American  methods  after  the  fashion  of 
Marshall  Field  in  Chicago  and  demonstrated  that 
Yankee  enterprise  and  grit  could  be  engrafted  upon 
London.  These  and  hundreds  of  others,  titled  and  un- 
titled, attended. 

Mr.  Balfour  in  proposing  the  health  of  the  guests 
rejoiced  to  see  them  in  Europe  at  this  time  because 
happily  it  coincided  with  a  most  favorable  military 
development  of  the  situation.  Great  indeed  was  the 
change  between  March  and  October.  He  knew  of  no 
similar  period  of  history  so  great  and  dramatic  in  the 

—  49  — 


World  War  transformation  that  had  taken  place  on  so  heroic  a 
At  Its  scale,  dealing  with  issues  so  momentous  for  the  future 
Climax  °^  the  world.  ^  e  were  all  fortunate  in  being  witnesses 
of  it,  and  the  guests  who  had  come  from  the  United 
States  at  this  moment  were  fortunate  in  the  occasion  of 
their  coming.  He  did  not  pretend  for  a  moment  that 
Allied  difficulties  were  at  an  end,  but  he  should  be  pro- 
foundly disappointed  if  the  tide  of  victory  flowing  so 
strongly  ever  received  a  serious  setback  from  the  enemy. 
<J  He  continued  as  follows : 

'  As  president  of  this  society  and  as  chairman  of  this 
function  it  falls  to  me  to  undertake  the  honorable  duty 
of  proposing  the  health  of  our  guests  and  giving  them  a 
warm  welcome  on  the  occasion  of  their  visit  to  this 
country.  We  rejoice  to  see  them  among  us,  and  we 
particularly  rejoice  because  the  moment  of  their  visit 
has  been  happily  timed. 

'  I  am  confident  that  what  we  began  to  do  so  success- 
fully in  July  and  carried  on  with  increasing  good  for- 
tune in  August  and  September  and  the  early  part  of  the 
present  month  is  no  accidental  or  momentary  success, 
but  in  truth  represents  the  growing  strength  of  the 
Allies  as  compared  with  the  waning  strength  of  our 
opponents.  And  if  that  be  so,  and  if  my  estimate  of  the 
situation  be  not  too  sanguine,  then  the  problem  before 
us  is  not  to  make  up  our  mind  as  to  whether  we  shall  or 
shall  not  win  the  war,  for  that  seems  ever  clearer,  but 
whether  we  shall  really  use  the  victory  which  is  within 
our  grasp  to  the  best  purpose  for  the  moment,  for  the 
next  few  years,  and,  last  but  not  least,  for  posterity, 
whose  fate  depends  upon  our  efforts. 
"  We  have  to  make  a  right  peace;  and  I  do  not  think 
that  a  right  peace  is  of  itself  a  very  easy  thing  to  make. 
Our  enemies,  who  I  may  parenthetically  remark  are 
attempting  to  change  their  constitution,  appear  to  have 

—  50  — 


no  notion  that  what  we  want  is  not  so  much  a  change  of  World  War 
the  form  of  the  apparatus  of  government  as  a  change  in  At  Its 
the  hearts  by  which  that  government  is  to  be  directed  Climax 
and  animated,  and  if  we  are  to  judge — and  surely  we  g 
may  judge  without  unfairness  of  a  man's  heart  by  what  * 
he  does, — I  would  ask  you  whether  those  who  have  made 
mankind  pale  with  horror  over  their  early  barbarities 
and  brutal  excesses  in  Belgium  show  the  least  sign  that 
four  years  of  war  have  in  any  material  respect  improved 
their  disposition.  Brutes  they  were  when  they  began 
the  war,  and,  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  brutes  they  remain 
at  the  present  moment.  I  speak,  perhaps  with  a  warmth 
of  indignation  unbefitting  a  Foreign  Secretary,  but  with 
the  news  of  this  outrage  in  the  Irish  Channel,  of  which 
I  have  just  been  getting,  I  wron't  say  the  details,  but 
the  rough  outline  from  my  gallant  friend  on  my  left, 
Admiral  Sims — I  confess  that  I  find  it  difficult  to  meas- 
ure my  epithets,  for,  if  I  rightly  understand  the  story, 
this  Irish  packet-boat — crammed  as  it  always  is,  with 
men,  women  and  children — in  broad  daylight  was 
deliberately  torpedoed  by  a  German  submarine.  It  was 
carrying  no  military  stores.  It  was  serving  no  military 
ends.  It  was  pure  barbarism,  pure  frightfulness,  delib- 
erately carried  out,  and  one  would  have  thought  that 
those  who,  after  all,  brought  in  America  to  their  own 
undoing  by  crimes  of  this  sort,  would  have  shrunk  a 
little  from  repeating  them  at  a  moment  when  their  fate 
is  to  be  decided  by  America  perhaps  even  more  than  by 
any  other  of  the  co-belligerents.  I  can  not  measure  the 
wicked  folly  of  the  proceeding  of  which  they  have  been 
guilty.  And  yet  let  us  not  forget  that  that  is  only  one, 
and  not  the  most  destructive,  the  most  cowardly,  or  the 
most  brutal  thing  which  at  this  moment,  when  they  are 
asking  for  peace,  they  are  perpetrating  upon  helpless 
civilians  or  still  more  helpless  prisoners  of  war.  I  wish 

—  51  — 


World  War  I  could  think  that  these  atrocious  crimes  were  the  crimes 
At  Its  °f  a  small  dominant  military  caste.  I  agree  that  the 
Climax  direction  of  policy,  the  direction  of  national  policy,  may 
be  in  the  hands  of  a  small  caste,  but  it  is  incredible  that 
^  crimes  like  these,  perpetrated  in  the  light  of  day,  known 
to  all  mankind,  condemned  from  one  end  of  the  civilized 
world  to  the  other,  should  go  on  being  repeated  month 
after  month  for  four  years  of  embittered  warfare  if  it 
did  not  commend  itself  to  the  population  which  com- 
mits them.  However,  gentlemen,  it  was  not  of  that  I 
wanted  to  speak.  I  was  led  off  from  the  course  of  my 
speech,  such  as  it  was,  by  the  reflections  suggested  by 
this  most  tragic  and  deplorable  episode,  and  I  rather 
wanted  to  say  to  you  and  to  say  to  our  friends  and  guests 
that  when  peace  approaches,  when  peace  comes  to  be 
considered,  and  when  that  period  of  reconstruction 
comes,  when  peace  is  arranged,  all  sorts  of  new  diffi- 
culties are  bound  to  arise  which  will  require  the  tact 
and  judgment  of  statesmen  to  get  over,  and,  if  I  may 
say  so  to  our  guests,  the  co-operation,  the  loyal  and 
effective  co-operation  of  the  great  newspapers  of  the 
world  to  see  it  carried  through.  The  poet,  as  we  all  know, 
has  said  that  peace  has  its  victories  as  well  as  war,  and 
let  me  say  that  the  victories  of  peace  will  be  at  least  as 
hard  of  accomplishment  as  the  victories  of  war.  They 
will  put  as  great  a  strain  upon  all  the  higher  moral  and 
intellectual  qualities  of  the  peoples  concerned  as  even 
the  great  struggle  in  which  we  have  all  been  engaged. 
<J  "  I  know,  and  I  think  you  all  know,  but  I  know,  from 
watching  to  the  best  of  my  ability  the  utterances  of  the 
German  newspapers,  that  what  they  count  upon  now, 
and  what  they  have  always  counted  upon,  is  jealousy 
and  disagreement  between  their  opponents.  It  is  the 
sort  of  calculation  which  I  think  will  fail.  But  it  is  the 
sort  of  calculation  which  has  a  kind  of  external  plaus- 

—  52  — 


ibility  and   unless  it   be   watched  may  even  have  an  World  War 
element  of  reality  in  it.  They  say  to  themselves,  '  The  At  Its 
union  of  the  great  English-speaking  people  is  the  most  Climax 
formidable  factor  we  have  had  to  deal  with  in  this  war,    to 
but  that  won't  last.'  There  are  old  causes  of  difference    " 
between  these  two  branches  of  civilization.  Both  are  at 
the  present  moment  great  commercial  and  industrial 
nations,  but  both  possess  and  aim  at,  rightly  aim  at,  a 
commerce   spreading   over   the   world.    Britain,   which 
used  to  be  supreme  in  the  matter  of  mercantile  marine, 
now  sees  growing  upon  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic 
a  mercantile  marine  of  unlimited  size.  '  Here,'  say  our 
German  friends,   '  here  are  elements  which  in  a  short 
time,  when  the  first  intoxication  of  victory  is  over,  may 
well  produce  differences  of  opinion  between  our  oppon- 
ents from  which  we  shall  profit.'  I  believe  myself  that 
there  never  was  a  shallower  miscalculation.  We  mem- 
bers of  the  English-speaking  Union  do  not  regard  our- 
selves as  the  missionaries  and  apostles  of  a  disowned  or 
difficult  cause.  We  regard  ourselves  as  simply  embodying 
in  an  organization  a  real  union  which  already  exists, 
which  is  growing,  and  which,  to  the  infinite  benefit  of 
the  world,  is,  I  think,  predestined  to  grow  for  genera- 
tions $+  so 

"  I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  that  civilization  is  to  be 
ministered  to  by  permitting  nations  of  different  genius, 
each  to  develop  that  genius  in  its  own  way,  each,  there- 
fore, to  contribute  its  own  characteristic  element  to  the 
general  intellectual  and  moral  pleasures  of  mankind, 
and  I  therefore  don't  wish  to  see  all  the  world  moulded 
into  one  form  of  culture.  If  I  had  the  power  I  would 
not  attempt  to  do  what  the  Germans  attempted  to  do, 
which  is  to  spread  any  particular  type  of  culture  over 
the  whole  of  reluctant  humanity.  That,  I  think,  is  folly; 
but  at  the  same  time,  let  me  add  this — while  there  are, 

—  53  — 


f 


World  War  and  will  doubtless  always  be  differences  of  outlook 
At  Its  between  various  branches  of  the  English-speaking 
Climax  PeoP^es»  whether  they  belong  to  the  United  States,  to 
these  small  islands,  or  to  the  great  self-governing 
dominions  of  the  British  Empire,  while  there  will  always 
be  differences  born  of  environment,  born  from  historical 
causes,  born  of  the  countless  subtle  elements  which 
greatly  produce  that  curious  entity,  national  character; 
granting  all  that,  I  believe  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
the  English-speaking  method  of  looking  at  the  great 
affairs  of  mankind,  and  that  method  of  outlook  is  of 
infinite  value  to  the  freedom  and  progress  of  the  world, 
and  can  only  be  truly  accomplished  if  there  be  an  inner 
harmony,  an  inner  regard  between  all  the  elements  of 
the  great  English-speaking  communities  of  which  every- 
body in  this  room  is  a  citizen  and  a  member.  That  is  my 
conviction,  and  if  there  was  or  could  be  any  doubt  that 
that  intimate  union  is  natural,  is  right,  is  fruitful  for 
the  good  of  the  world,  and  if  there  could  have  been  any 
doubt  that  that  union  of  hearts  is  destined  to  be  per- 
manent, these  doubts  would  surely  be  dissipated  by  the 
events  of  the  last  few  months. 

'  After  all,  there  is  nothing  which  binds  people  closer 
together  than  the  consciousness  of  great  deeds  done  in 
common,  great  acts  of  heroism  performed  side  by  side, 
great  services  to  humanity  carried  out  in  brotherly 
co-operation.  That  consciousness  all  of  us  have  now  in 
the  highest  measure;  that  consciousness  will  grow. 
History  will  embalm  it,  and  it  will  become  part  of 
international  tradition.  It  will  make  happier,  easier  and 
far  more  glorious  that  union  which  we  exist  to  promote 
-that  union  which  is  based  upon  mutual  respect,  a 
common  love  of  freedom,  a  common  language,  common 
law,  common  literature  and  which  has  in  it  such  infinite 
potential  good  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  Ladies  and 

—  54  — 


gentlemen,  I  beg  to  ask  yon  to  drink  with  us  to  the  World  War 
health  of  the  representatives  of  the  great  American  At  Its 
press.  May  they  have  every  good  fortune  attend  them,  Climax 
and  may  they  go  back  with  kindly   thoughts  of  the    ^ 
country  which  desires  nothing  more  than  to  give  them 
generous  hospitality." 

Mr.  F.  P.  Glass  of  Birmingham,  Alabama,  responding 
to  the  toast  on  behalf  of  the  American  editors,  said 
America  wanted  some  of  the  honor  and  distinction  of 
having  accomplished  something  substantial  in  the  world 
struggle  for  the  establishment  of  justice — English  jus- 
tice, if  they  pleased — for  the  bulk  of  Americans  were  of 
English  blood,  and  were  proud  of  their  English  deriva- 
tions of  law  and  theories  of  justice,  whether  they 
administered  those  laws  so  nicely  as  the  English  did 
or  not. 

Admiral  Sims  said  that  it  was  very  important  that  the 
American  people  should  be  absolutely  informed  as  to 
what  was  taking  place  on  this  side.  They  had  not  been 
too  accurately  informed.  There  had  been  a  number  of 
misapprehensions  which  had  done  some  damage,  but  to 
what  extent  that  was  the  fault  of  the  press,  he  was  not 
sure.  He  had  questioned  a  good  many  Americans  who 
had  come  to  this  country  as  to  what  they  thought  of 
things  over  here.  For  example,  he  had  asked  Americans 
who,  as  was  customary  when  they  crossed  the  Atlantic, 
had  had  to  elbow  their  way  through  submarines,  how 
many  submarines  they  supposed  were  operating  against 
the  merchant  ships  and  transports  making  port.  He 
would  like  to  ask  the  editors  present  how  many  they 
thought  were  operating.  When  he  had  asked  he  had 
never  seen  an  estimate  of  less  than  fifty  and  sometimes 
it  was  a  hundred.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  average 
number  was  eight  or  nine,  and  it  sometimes  ran  up  to 
twelve  or  thirteen.  Of  all  the  submarines  that  the  enemy 

—  55  — 


World  War  had  that  was  the  most  that  were  kept  out.  Another  idea 
At  Its  was  sometimes  in  the  American  mind  that  the  American 
Climax  navy  na<^  keen  doing  the  bulk  of  the  business  over  here 
— at  least  a  half.  That  was  not  correct.  There  were  about 
three  thousand  anti-submarine  craft  operating  day  and 
night,  and  the  American  craft  numbered  one  hundred 
sixty,  or  three  per  cent.  The  same  ratio  applied  in  the 
Mediterranean.  Again,  Americans  seemed  to  regard  it 
as  a  miracle  of  their  Navy  that  they  had  got  a  million 
and  a  half  troops  here  in  a  few  months,  and  had  pro- 
tected them  on  the  way.  "  W7e  did  n't  do  that,"  Admiral 
Sims  said.  "  Great  Britain  did." 

Our  party  were  handed  a  pamphlet  giving  this  explana- 
tion of  what  the  Union  is  and  aims  to  be: 
"  The  English-Speaking  Union  is  an  attempt  to  draw 
together  in  the  bond  of  comradeship  the  English-speak- 
ing peoples  of  the  world.  The  movement  has  been 
formed  by  a  group  of  Americans  and  Britishers — in  no 
spirit  of  hostility  to  any  people.  It  is  felt  that  the  corner- 
stone on  which  the  League  of  Nations  must  be  built  is 
a  complete  understanding  and  friendly  co-operation 
between  the  two  great  sections  of  the  English-speaking- 
peoples.  On  them  will  very  largely  fall  the  problem  of 
making  the  world  safe  for  democracy. 
'  In  1823  Thomas  Jefferson,  speaking  of  Great  Britain, 
wrote  to  President  Munroe  :  '  With  her  on  our  side  we 
need  not  fear  the  whole  world.  With  her  then  we  should 
most  sedulously  cherish  a  cordial  friendship,  and  nothing 
would  tend  more  to  knit  our  affections  than  to  be  fight- 
ing once  more,  side  by  side,  in  the  same  cause.'  Little 
did  Jefferson  think  when  he  penned  these  words  that 
one  hundred  years  later  the  two  great  sections  of  the 
English-speaking  world  would  be  fighting  side  by  side 
for  common  ideals. 

"  The  aim  of  the  English-speaking  Union  is,  briefly,  to 

—  56  — 


make  the  English-speaking  peoples  of  the  world  better  World  War 
known   to   each   other,    whether   they    be   Americans,  At  Its 
Australians,  Canadians,  New  Zealanders,  South  Afri-  Climax 
cans,    Newfoundlanders,    or    the    inhabitants    of    the    ^ 
British  Isles  and  their  dependencies.  * 

"  It  does  not  aim  at  formal  alliances,  nor  is  it  concerned 
with  the  relationship  of  governments;  it  is  solely  and 
simply  a  good  fellowship  movement  among  the  people 
who  speak  the  tongue  that  Shakespeare  spake. 
"  The  aim  of  the  promoters,  American  and  British,  is 
that  no  citizen  of  the  English-speaking  world  should 
ever  feel  lonely  again  after  the  War,  that  no  American 
visiting  the  Old  Country  should  ever  want  a  friend,  and 
that  no  Britisher  should  ever  want  one  in  the  Great 
Republic.  A  good  fellowship  movement,  glad  hand  club, 
whatever  you  may  like  to  call  it,  but  it  has  more  than  a 
purely  social  side. 

"  In  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  things  that  matter  the 
English-speaking  peoples,  whether  they  come  from  the 
United  States,  from  the  British  dominions  in  the  far 
antipodes,  or  from  the  Mother  Country,  have  the  same 
outlook,  the  same  ideals,  the  same  conceptions  of  right 
and  wrong,  the  same  laws,  the  same  literature.  It  is  only 
in  the  remaining  five  per  cent  of  superficial  things  that 
they  differ. 

"  The  Englishman  is  more  reserved  and  goes  to  his  club 
when  he  wishes  to  be  alone  and  to  escape  from  his 
friends.  The  American,  on  the  other  hand  is  more  soci- 
able and  goes  to  his  club  to  meet  his  friends!  The 
Englishman  drinks  tea  in  the  afternoon,  the  Australian 
drinks  his  tea  in  the  morning  at  eleven  and  the  American 
drinks  iced  water!  Once  we  know  each  other,  we  get  to 
understand  these  little  surface  differences  and  realize 
that  in  all  the  things  that  matter  we  see  eye  to  eye. 
^f  "  If  the  English-speaking  peoples  would  pull  together 


o  t 


World  War  in  no  mean  spirit  of  exclusion  or  race  pride,  but  in  one 
At  Its  °f  humbleness,  and  show  by  their  actions  that  they 
Climax  rea^ze    the    vast    responsibility    towards    the    smaller 
^    nationalities  of  the  world  which  is  theirs,  there  is  no 
*    limit  to  the  great  part  they  might  play  in   abolishing 
war  for  all  time  and  in  spreading  the  reign  of  order  and 
good  fellowship  throughout  the  world. 
'  One    hundred    years    ago    when    the    autocracies    of 
Europe  cast  longing  eyes  towards  the  South  American 
continent  and  desired  to  re-establish  monarchical  insti- 
tutions, America  and  Great  Britain  stood  together,  and 
largely  owing  to  that  spirit  of  co-operation,  to  which 
Thomas  Jefferson  referred,  the  struggling  young  South 
American  Republics  were  securely  launched  on  their 
national  careers. 

'  Our  aim  is  to  establish  a  branch  of  the  English- 
Speaking  Union  wherever  Americans  and  Britishers  are 
to  be  found  and  it  does  not  require  any  very  wide  flight 
of  imagination  to  envisage  a  chain  of  great  buildings 
devoted  to  the  common  service,  encircling  the  globe; 
the  outward  symbol  of  a  great  bond  of  sympathy  which 
believes  in  the  great  tasks  of  reconstruction  in  which  the 
English-Speaking  peoples  must  always  lead  the  way." 
<§  In  America,  William  H.  Taft  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  is  and  has  been  from  the  beginning  the 
President.  The  American  branch  has  grown  constantly 
both  in  numbers  and  activity. 


58 


CHAPTER  IX 


A  Day  at  Sandringham 

Red  Letter  Event  for  Publishers,  Newspaper  and  Magazine — 
Entire  Royal  Family  Threw  Aside  Formality  and  Seemed  to 
Enjoy  Themselves.  King  George,  Making  Use  of  RooseveWs 
Famous  Expression  Declared  He  Had  Had  a  Bully  Day. 

[N  Saturday,  October  12th,  the  Ameri- 
can publishers  and  editors  were 
informed  that  King  George  and  Queen 
Mary  would  be  graciously  pleased  to 
receive  them  on  the  day  following  at 
their  country  seat,  Sandringham.  It 
was  intimated  by  the  Ministry  of  Infor- 
mation that  it  was  a  most  unusual  concession,  for  his 
Majesty  and  his  court  preferred  to  observe  well  estab- 
lished traditions  and  keep  to  themselves  on  the  Sabbath 
day  at  least. 

Sandringham,  summer  home  of  British  royalty,  more 
than  one  hundred  miles  from  London,  is  on  the  east 
coast,  near  the  sea.  It  consists  of  fifteen  hundred  acres 
with  trees,  shrubbery,  plants  and  flowers  from  every 
quarter  of  the  globe.  It  has  attractive  lakes  and  ponds 
and  wonderful  conservatories.  All  were  then  sadly 
neglected,  because  war  had  taken  away  three  hundred 
and  fifty  men  who  were  regularly  employed.  King 
Edward  acquired  and  developed  this  estate,  which  con- 
tained his  fine  thoroughbred  racing  stud  and  stables. 
It  is  now  the  permanent  residence  of  his  widow,  the 
Dowager  Queen  Alexandra.  It  descended  to  King 
George  and  is  the  only  actual  property  of  the  King. 

—  59  — 


World  War  Windsor  castle,  Buckingham  palace  and  Balmoral  castle 
At  Its  are  a^  properties  of  the  Crown. 
Climax  Queen  Alexandra,  mother  of  the  King,  occupied  the 
"  Castle,"  which  is  no  castle  at  all,  but  a  fine  country 
home.  The  King  dwells,  during  his  stay  at  Sandringham, 
in  the  comparatively  modest  York  cottage.  Here  he 
rests  for  several  weeks  in  summer — the  pheasant  hunt- 
ing season.  Here  all  the  children  of  George  and  Mary 
were  born. 

With  the  King  and  the  Queen  receiving  us,  were  their 
daughter  Princess  Mary,  the  King's  sister,  Princess 
Louise  and  the  King's  mother,  the  Dowager  Queen 
Alexandra  s*  so» 

The  time  of  our  visit  was  auspicious.  Great  news  had 
just  come  out  of  Germany  to  the  effect  that  Junkerdom 
had  decided  to  capitulate,  after  four  years  of  war,  and 
it  was  to  be  supposed  that  the  atmosphere  about  Sand- 
ringham would  be  most  congenial  for  felicitations.  There 
were  no  Sunday  papers,  in  the  American  sense,  in  Great 
Britain,  but  the  King,  of  course,  had  his  own  private 
information  about  the  important  turn  of  events.  A  royal 
messenger  was  aboard  the  train  which  bore  the  twenty- 
three  Americans  to  Sandringham.  His  commission  was 
to  tell  King  George  what  the  King  already  knew. 
The  journey  to  Sandringham  was  taken  in  a  special 
train,  under  a  semi-cloudy  sky,  through  a  lovely  land- 
scape. There  was  a  glimpse  of  the  famous  university  town 
of  Cambridge  and  of  the  historic  cathedral  at  Ely.  The 
party  arrived  at  Sandringham  station,  reserved  for  the 
guests  of  royalty,  about  two  o'clock,  and  found  waiting 
them  three  spick  and  span  carryalls.  Meanwhile  instruc- 
tions as  to  how  the  party  was  to  be  received  had  been 
given.  They  were  to  be  divided  into  three  groups,  and 
each  group  was  to  meet  the  King  separately  and  was  to 
remain  not  more  than  ten  minutes.  It  was  expected  that 

—  GO  — 


his  Majesty  would  have  had  quite  enough  in  that  brief  World  War 
period.  But  it  soon  proved  that  the  courtiers  were  wrong  At  Its 
in  deciding  just  who  should  be  privileged  to  bask  in  the  cLIMax 
smiles  of  royalty  and  for  just  how  long.  g 

By  a  coincidence  American  magazine  and  periodical 
publishers,  who  were  in  London,  were  included  in  the 
royal  request,  and  we  all  went  together  to  Sandringham, 
giving  the  King  his  first  personal  view  of  and  contact 
with  composite  American  journalism.  It  was  hinted  by 
those  who  arranged  the  audience  that  it  was  substantial 
and  convincing  evidence  of  the  high  interest  of  the  King 
in  what  was  hoped  would  be  established  permanently — 
cordial  relations  between  two  English-speaking  nations. 
^  It  was  a  drive  of  about  a  mile  from  the  railway 
station  by  winding  ways,  through  an  attractive  land- 
scape, that  brought  the  party  to  Sandringham.  A  func- 
tionary in  bright  red  coat,  decorated  with  many  medals, 
indicating  worthy  service  in  the  Life  Guards,  ushered 
all  into  the  waiting  room.  There  were  other  officials,  with 
no  special  insigna  of  rank  or  station,  who,  with  wellbred 
ease,  made  the  guests  feel  quite  at  home. 
An  aged  man,  Sir  Richard  Probyn,  hero  of  East  Indian 
warfare,  possessor  of  the  Victoria  Cross,  was  the  per- 
sonal attendant  and  courtier  of  Queen  Alexandra.  All 
the  court  ladies  were  dressed  much  as  one  sees  the 
women  of  America  in  an  American  city  every  day,  in 
admirably  fitted  tailored  suits.  There  was  no  ostenta- 
tion, no  stiffness,  little  ceremony.  The  members  of  the 
visiting  party  had  been  counseled  not  to  offer  needlessly 
to  shake  hands  with  the  King  or  the  Queen  unless  they 
first  made  the  approach,  which  the  royal  personages  did 
in  every  instance.  "Address  the  King  as  '  Your  Majesty  ' 
and  the  Queen  in  like  manner"  it  was  said.  Some  of 
the  editors  perhaps  forgot  the  rules,  but  no  one  at- 
tempted any  familiarity,  and  certainly  none  was  in- 

—  61  — 


I 


World  War  vited;  but  every  one  of  the  royal  personages,  after  the 
At  Its  introduction,  adopted  easy  conversation  with  some  one 

Climax  or  °^ner  °f  the  Americans. 

In  welcoming  us  to  Sandringham,  King  George  spoke 
of  bygone  differences  between  America  and  England. 
We  of  America  had  perhaps  misunderstood  England 
and  certainly  England  had  misunderstood  America.  We 
were  together  now,  and,  in  a  right  way,  when  war 
ended,  should  be  the  great  leaders  of  the  world  in  all 
good.  The  King  continued  along  the  lines  of  Cecil 
Rhodes's  dream  of  a  wonderful  South  African  empire — 
that  America  should  send  her  sons  to  England  to  be 
educated  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  that  England 
should  send  her  sons  to  America  to  acquire  the  culture 
and  education  we  had  to  give. 

It  was  manifest  that  King  George  was  in  accord  with 
the  sentiment  prevailing  in  England  at  that  time,  favor- 
ing a  close  union  with  the  great  American  republic, — no 
binding  agreement,  no  formal  league,  no  contractual 
alliance,  merely  rapprochment,  which  would  forestall 
vital  disagreements  and  which  would  mean  combined 
harmony  and  unity  among  all  the  English-speaking- 
nations  &o  s& 

After  many  pleasantries  with  the  King  and  Queen  and 
their  attendants,  the  guests  were  asked  if  they  desired 
to  go  over  Sandringham.  All  were  delighted,  of  course, 
and  the  whole  company  started,  under  the  guidance  of 
the  King  and  Queen,  to  view  the  grounds.  The  King  and 
Queen  walked  rapidly.  First  there  was  a  visit  to  York 
cottage,  where  there  was  a  close-up  view  of  how  the 
royal  familyjlives.  Some  of  the  King's  entourage  took 
charge  of  certain  groups  of  the  editors,  and  each 
attendant  appeared  to  be  anxious  tojshow  the  advan- 
tages and  attractions  of  the  great  estate  at  its  best.  One 
curious  journalist  asked  each  of  half  a  dozen  lords  and 

—  62  — 


ladies  what  was  the  area  of  Sandringham.  All  said  they 
did  not  know.  But  the  King  promptly  settled  all  doubts 
by  declaring  it  fifteen  hundred  acres. 
York  cottage  is  a  plain  brick  dwelling  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  rooms,  of  only  moderate  size,  with  a  workshop, 
or  study,  for  the  King.  If  there  were  any  special  court- 
iers or  equerries  there,  they  were  not  seen.  The  equip- 
ment in  furniture  and  in  modern  convenience  was  com- 
plete and  in  some  respects  elegant;  but  there  are  many 
homes  in  America,  some  of  them  in  Syracuse,  which 
might  be  compared  favorably  with  it. 
There  was  a  long  tour  to  the  gardens  and  to  the  stables, 
particular  hobbies  of  King  Edward.  A  pony  and  cart, 
driven  by  the  faithful  Probyn,  followed  the  company 
around.  It  was  for  the  use  of  Queen  Alexandra,  but  she 
went  the  entire  rounds  with  the  others  on  foot,  and  did 
not  at  any  time  appear  to  lose  interest  in  her  guests  or 
in  what  they  were  saying  and  seeing. 
In  the  vicinity  of  the  royal  stables  is  a  great  statue  of 
Persimmon  King.  He  was  bred  at  Sandringham.  It  is  a 
magnificent  effigy  of  a  splendid  thoroughbred.  In  the 
stables  were  many  of  the  best  thoroughbreds  in  the 
world.  Each  visitor,  under  tutelage  of  the  Queen  and 
the  Dowager,  busied  himself  in  passing  to  the  thorough- 
breds, carrots,  which  they  ate  with  great  gusto.  In  all, 
there  must  have  been  one  hundred  stallions  and  mares. 
The  chief  of  the  stud  was  Friar  Marcus,  never  beaten 
as  a  two-year-old. 

Several  members  of  the  party,  who  had  the  good  fortune 
to  be  accompanied  by  Queen  Alexandra,  were  asked  to 
a  place  she  called  a  "  workshop."  It  appears  to  be 
modeled  somewhat  after  the  artcraft  establishments 
common  in  America — The  Roy  crofters,  of  East  Aurora, 
for  example.  There  were  many  beautiful  pieces  of  deli- 
cate   hand-made    furniture.    The    companions    of    the 

—  63  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 

i 


I 


World  War  Queen  were  delighted  with  what  they  saw  and  said  so, 
At  Its  °f  course;  whereupon  she  graciously  presented  to  each 
Climax  °^  ^ne  surprised  and  somewhat  embarrassed  Americans 
a  tea-table.  One  of  the  pieces  went  to  Buffalo,  one  to 
San  Francisco  and  one  to  Portland,  Oregon. 
The  King  expressed  a  desire  to  show  the  editors  through 
his  library,  doubtless  with  the  idea  that  it  would  be  of 
especial  interest  to  men  engaged  in  a  literary  calling. 
And  so  it  was.  The  library  had  once  been  a  bowling 
alley,  but  King  Edward  had  thought  it  would  be  more 
useful  and  ornamental  as  a  place  of  study  and  reflection, 
and  he  made  the  change.  King  George  lead  the  way  to 
Sandringham  chapel,  a  wonderful  house  of  worship, 
with  many  cherished  decorations  and  memorials.  Then 
he  took  the  visitors  back  to  his  reception  room,  where 
he  and  the  royal  group  bade  good-by  to  all,  shaking 
hands  cordially  with  each. 

There  was  every  reason  to  believe  the  hosts  were  as 
pleased  with  the  event  as  were  the  guests. 
King  George  is  a  very  democratic  man,  and  his  entire 
family  treated  us  as  if  we,  not  they,  were  royalty. 
The  tour  was  completed  by  a  second  visit  to  the  main 
house,  where  tea  was  served.  It  was  a  rather  elaborate 
function,  though  all  the  royal  party  continued  to  mingle 
with  the  visitors  in  the  most  democratic  fashion. 
It  was  a  great  day  for  the  editors,  anyway. 


64 


CHAPTER  X 


"  The  Thunderer  " 

Pioneer  of  the  World's  Great  Newspapers — Going  Hack  to  Shake- 
speare's Days — Built  on  Site  of  Great  Playwright's  Theater — 
History  and  Development  of  this  Journalistic  Institution. 

[ISITING  newspaper  men  observed  an 
amazing  difference  between  British 
and  French  newspapers  and  those  of 
America.  Illustrative  of  this  was  on 
Armistice  Day.  At  home  an  enterpris- 
ing newspaper  man  would  have  noti- 
fied President  Wilson  that  armistice 
was  signed  and  ask  what  he  had  to  say  or  was  going  to 
do  about  it.  In  England,  King  George  or  Lloyd  George, 
or  some  other  official  George  has  first  to  make  public 
announcement  and  then  newspapers  are  privileged  to 
speak.  It  is,  however,  only  a  difference  of  method. 
English  and  French  newspapers,  notwithstanding  these 
shortcomings  from  an  American  viewpoint,  are  a  mighty 
power  abroad  as  well  as  in  America. 
Our  party  also  was  struck  with  the  smallness  of  English 
and  French  publications.  Practically  no  advertising 
appeared.  With  the  exception  of  the  great  London 
Times,  in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland  and  France  dailies 
were  four  pages.  Usually  The  Times  was  ten  or  twelve 
pages,  never  more  than  fourteen.  Paris  editions  of  the 
New  York  Herald  consisted  of  only  two  pages  Mondays, 
four  pages  on  other  days.  Shortage  of  paper  had  much 
to  do  with  it,  as  Germany  in  peace  times  had  manu- 

—  65  — 


World  War  factured  newsprint  in  great  quantities  and  sold  it  to 

At  Its  other  European  countries. 

C    m\x  Sweden  and  Norway  likewise  were  large  producers  of 

\    newsprint.  But  war  had  commandeered  the  output  of 

*    paper  mills  for  many  purposes,  so  that  the  making  of 

supplies  for  newspapers  was  of  secondary  importance. 

In  Germany,  especially,  a  big  percentage  of  newspapers 

were    discontinued  permanently — she   using   paper  to 

make  clothes. 

The  Times  is  traditionally  a  London  institution  known 
as  "  The  Thunderer  '  in  the  newspaper  world.  One 
of  the  guests  to  whom  an  editor  of  The  Times  had  been 
introduced  and  who  inquired,  "  What  Times;  New  York 
or  London?  '  was  loftily  reminded  there  was  only  one 
Times  s»  s*» 

At  one  of  the  notable  Viscount  Northcliffe  functions 
the  Viscount  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  build- 
ing in  which  we  sat  was  the  most  ancient  home  of  print- 
ing in  all  the  world,  three  hundred  years,  and  long 
before  The  Times  was  established.  Printing  House- 
square,  he  admitted,  did  not  compare  with  the  news- 
paper palaces  of  America.  Each  afternoon,  Lord  North- 
cliffe explained,  there  was  printed  the  smallest  circulated 
newspaper  in  the  world.  It  was  The  Times's  permanent 
record  edition  designed  for  its  own  files  and  libraries. 
It  was  produced  on  linen  paper,  believed  to  be  inde- 
structible, and  with  indelible  ink. 

The  favors  at  the  dinner  at  which  this  knowledge  was 
imparted  included  a  handsome  book  printed  for  the 
occasion.  On  the  front  page  is  a  picture  of  Printing 
House-square  in  Seventeen  Hundred  Ninety -four,  in  a 
district  known  as  Blackfriars,  site  of  a  monastery  of 
black-robed  Dominicans  founded  there  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  thirteenth  century.  King  Edward  II  held 
a  Parliament  here  early  in  the  fourteenth  century.  In 

—  66  — 


Fifteen  Hundred  Eleven  the  Emperor  Charles  V  stayed  World  War 
here,  and  in  Fifteen  Hundred  Twenty-three  King  Henry  At  Its 
VIII   held   here   a   Parliament,    known   as   the   Black  cLIMax 
Parliament.  Fifteen  years  later,  on  the  dissolution  of    * 
the  monasteries,  the  monks  left  their  great  buildings    • 
and  the  conventual  buildings  were  sold  or  leased.  Among 
those  who  bought  property  here  was  William  Shake- 
speare. The  district  included  the  fashionable  Blackf riars 
Playhouse,  which  was  owned  by  Shakespeare's  company 
of  players,  and  was  attended  by  Queen  Elizabeth.  Here 
Shakespeare's  company  held  the  stage  for  many  years, 
although  Shakespeare  had  then  ceased  to  be  an  actor, 
and  here  were  acted  the  great  works  of  Elizabethan 
dramatists:  Ben  Jonson,   Marston,   Fletcher,  Massin- 
ger,  probably  of  Shakespeare  himself. 
In  Sixteen  Hundred  Sixty-six  The  Great  Fire  of  London 
devastated  the  region.  A  year  later  there  was  built  on 
this  spot  the  King's  Printing  House,  whence  Printing 
House-square  takes  its  name,  and  John  Bill,  the  King's 
Printer,  printed  the  London  Gazette,  which  was  then 
the   only   paper   in   England.    In   Seventeen   Hundred 
Thirty-seven  The  King's  Printing  House  was  burned. 
In  Seventeen  Hundred  Eighty-four  it  was  taken  by  the 
first  member  of  the  family  that  has  ever  since  been 
identified  with  the  spot,  John  Walter,  founder  of  The 
Times  s+  s& 

It  is  strange  that  the  man  who  founded  The  Times  was 
neither  a  journalist  nor  a  printer.  John  Walter  had  been 
a  coal  merchant,  then  an  underwriter  of  shipping. 
French  and  American  wars  caused  losses  which  put  him 
into  bankruptcy  in  or  about  Seventeen  Hundred  Eighty- 
three.  Henrv  Johnson  about  this  time  had  devised  and 
patented  a  method  of  printing  by  means  of  logotypes, 
a  font  consisting  of  whole  words  instead  of  separate 
letters  $+  so* 

—  67  — 


I 


World  War  John  Walter  bought  the  patent  rights,  improved  the 
At  Its  device  and  set  up  as  printer  in  Printing  House  square. 
Climax  ^  nrs^  ne  undertook  only  the  printing  of  books.  The 
printing  of  books  by  the  "  Logographic  "  process  was  not 
a  success.  King  George  III,  to  whom  the  invention  was 
exhibited,  was  not  moved  to  extend  to  it  his  patronage, 
chiefly,  as  John  Walter  supposed,  because  the  name  of 
Benjamin  Franklin,  then  American  Ambassador  to 
France,  appeared  in  the  list  of  supporters. 
John  Walter's  bid  for  job-printing  was  destined  to 
become  a  pioneer  step  in  the  printer's  art.  His  interest 
in  printing  was  inherited  by  his  son  John  Walter  II, 
who,  educated  at  Merchant  Taylor's  School  and  Oxford 
and  destined  for  Holy  Orders,  was  taken  into  The  Times 
office  in  Seventeen  Hundred  Ninety-seven  or  Seventeen 
Hundred  Ninety -eight,  and  became  the  manager  of  the 
paper  in  Eighteen  Hundred  Three.  In  Eighteen  Hun- 
dred Four  he  gave  encouragement,  in  spite  of  opposition 
from  his  printers,  to  Thomas  Martyn,  a  workman  in 
The  Times  office,  who  had  invented  an  automatic  press. 
In  Eighteen  Hundred  Ten  John  Walter  II  had  to  face 
a  serious  strike  among  his  printers.  It  appears  he  was 
not  an  easy  man  to  beat.  At  only  a  few  hours'  notice  on 
a  Saturday  morning,  the  story  runs,  "  having  collected 
a  few  apprentices  from  a  half  dozen  different  quarters, 
and  a  few  inferior  workmen,  anxious  to  obtain  employ- 
ment on  any  terms,  he  determined  to  set  a  memorable 
example  of  what  one  man's  energy  can  accomplish.  For 
six-and-thirty  hours  he  himself  worked  incessantly  at 
case  and  at  press;  and  on  Monday  morning  the  com- 
positors who  had  assembled  to  triumph  over  his  defeat, 
saw  to  their  inexpressible  astonishment  and  dismay 
The  Times  issue  from  the  hands  of  the  publisher  with 
the  same  regularity  as  ever." 

Like  many  another  great  undertaking,  The  Times  was 

—  68  — 


not  at  first  successful.  It  was  drastically  independent.  World  War 
In  Seventeen  Hundred  Eighty-nine  John  Walter  I  was  At  Its 
sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  fifty  pounds,  to  undergo  a  Climax 
year's  imprisonment  in  Newgate,  to  stand  in  pillory  for    * 
one  hour,  to  give  recognizances  for  his  good  behavior 
for  seven  years  for  supposed  libel  of  the  King's  son,  the 
Duke  of  York.  In  his  imprisonment  he  was  tried  for 
other  libels,  heavy  fines  were  imposed  with  another 
year's  imprisonment,  the  office  of  printer  of  customs 
was  taken  from  him  and  all  government  advertisements 
were  withdrawn  from  The  Times  and  its  foreign  dis- 
patches seized.  Notwithstanding  every  oppression,  The 
Times    grew,    and    in    John    W7alter    II's  administra- 
tion its   circulation    stood    at    twenty-nine    thousand 
while  none  of  its  competitors  reached   the  five  thou- 
sand mark. 

In  Eighteen  Hundred  Forty  a  gigantic  scheme  of  inter- 
national forgery  originated  in  Paris.  The  Times  spent 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  or  five  thousand  pounds 
in  detecting  it.  London  was  so  gratified  it  raised  the 
money  by  subscription  and  repaid  The  Times.  The 
event  is  commemorated  by  a  tablet  still  over  the 
entrance  door  to  The  Times  office.  John  W7alter  refused 
to  accept  the  money  and  employed  it  in  founding  free 
scholarships  in  famous  London  schools. 
In  Nineteen  Hundred  Eight  Lord  Northcliffe  became 
principal  shareholder  of  The  Times  and  stamped  his 
name  upon  the  great  newspaper  which,  down  to  then, 
had  been  unbrokenly  in  the  Walter  family.  W7ith  his 
splendid  newspaper  equipment  and  vast  wealth,  Lord 
Northcliffe  placed  The  Times  upon  a  permanent  and 
enduring  financial  basis. 

The  most  famous  writers  of  Europe  and  men  of  action 
have  served  in  all  the  years  on  The  Times. 
The  late  Mr.  Moberly  Bell,  manager  of  The  Times  for 

—  69  — 


World  War  many  years,  delighted  to  relate  how  he  had  once  received 

At  Its  a  letter  from  the  superintendent  of  a  lunatic  asylum, 

Climax  w^n  reference  to  one  of  the  inmates.  "As  he  has  for 

to    many  years  been  a  subscriber  to  The  Times,"  ran  the 

*    concluding  sentence,  "  I  thought  you  would  know  that 

he  was  a  lunatic." 


—  70  — 


CHAPTER  XI 


St.  Dunstan's 

Institute  for  the  Blind — Founded  by  Sir  Arthur  Pearson,  Rich 
Magazine  Publisher — Good  Flows  from  It.  Pupils  are  Taught 
Trades  and  Inspired  to  Be  Cheerful  and  Uncomplaining  of 
Their  Lot. 

HURSDAY  afternoon,  October  10th, 
was  spent  listening  to  an  inspiring  and 
patriotic  address  by  Earl  Grey,  who 
had  been  silent  for  two  years.  He  had 
been  a  pacifist,  and  as  his  views  were 
not  popular  had  retired  from  public 
life.  "  The  League  of  Nations  "  was  the 
title  of  Earl  Grey's  talk  and  he  spoke  to  an  immense 
and  appreciative  audience.  He  strongly  approved  of 
what  was  being  done  to  win  the  war  and  expressed 
firmly  his  views  upon  the  League  of  Nations. 
That  evening  a  dinner  was  given  for  us  at  Hotel  Savoy 
by  the  English  Authors'  Club  with  headquarters  in 
London.  Many  of  the  world's  great  writers  attended, 
among  them,  Sir  Anthony  Hope  and  E.  Phillips  Oppen- 
heim,  judges  and  other  leading  officers  of  the  British 
Government.  There  were  no  formal  speeches  but  each 
person  was  asked  to  speak,  sing  or  tell  a  story.  It  was  a 
thoroughly  enjoyable  affair. 

Next  day,  Friday,  was  fixed  for  a  dinner  given  us  by 
Rt.  Honorable  Arthur  J.  Balfour,  president  of  the 
English-Speaking  Union,  account  of  which  is  given  in  a 
preceding  chapter. 

On    Friday    afternoon,     after     our     English-Speaking 

—  71  — 


World  War  Union  dinner,  most  of  our  party  visited  Saint  Dunstan's 
At  Its  hospital  for  blind  soldiers.  The  head  of  the  institution 


Climax 


was  a  fine,  manly  fellow,  perhaps  thirty  years  old, 
totally  blind.  Many  of  the  men  were  of  splendid 
physique.  Cheerfulness  was  the  first  thing  impressed 
upon  their  minds.  They  were  not  permitted  to  consider 
themselves  deficient  or  unfortunate  in  any  degree.  They 
moved  about  with  the  aid  of  canes.  Strips  of  linoleum 
ran  through  the  rooms  with  carpets  on  either  side.  WThile 
they  remained  on  the  linoleum  they  did  not  bump  into 
anything,  but  when  they  got  onto  the  carpet  they  knew 
they  were  "  off  the  road." 

Sir  Arthur  Pearson,  founder  of  Pearson's  Magazine,  one 
of  the  great  magazines  of  the  world,  himself  blind  from 
overwork,  established  Saint  Dunstan's  and  conducted 
it  at  his  own  expense  until  the  British  Government 
decided  it  should  take  care  of  its  own  people  who  had 
lost  their  sight  in  war.  Captain  Fraser  in  charge  of  one 
of  the  leading  departments  of  Saint  Dunstan's  lost  the 
precious  faculty  of  sight  in  gallant  action  in  the  great 
Battle  of  the  Somme. 

It  is  simply  marvelous  what  is  taught  to  persons  at 
Saint  Dunstan's.  Chickens,  ducks  and  rabbits  are  bred 
and  reared  by  the  blind.  Fish  lines  and  netting  are  made 
in  looms  operated  as  dextrously  as  though  the  operators 
enjoyed  vision.  Swimming,  tandem  bicycling,  crew 
rowing,  (in  the  last  named  regattas  are  rowed)  telephone 
and  telegraph  operating,  typewriting,  stenography, 
basket  making  and  shoemaking  are  fields  of  activity. 
There  is  a  department  where  massage  is  taught  as  a 
science  s&  &** 

Hundreds  of  graduates  have  gone  out  and  established 
themselves  and  have  become  self-supporting.  Their 
spirit  and  love  for  their  alma  mater  is  as  great  and 
genuine  as  that  of  the  college  graduate. 

—  72  — 


It  is   a  splendid   institution  and  a  monument  to  its  World  War 
illustrious  founder.  At  Its 

That  evening  the  editors  were  the  special  guests  of  Climax 
Major  Evelyn  Wrench  at  the  Cheshire  Cheese,  a  quaint  * 
old  ale  house  where  Boswell,  Johnson  and  other  literary 
lights  held  forth  and  many  a  brilliant  battle  of  wits  was 
fought  over  wine  cup  and  ale  mug.  Little  is  changed. 
Memories  of  the  past  are  in  the  air  of  the  place  and  our 
entertainment  there  was  genuine  as  well  as  unique. 


7:i 


PART  III 

Scotland 


Seeing  the  Great  Fleet  and  Com- 
paring it  with  Roosevelt's 
Around  the  World  Armada 


Unhappy  Mary  Queen  of  Scots 

Carlisle's  Attempt  to  Control 
Consumption  of  Liquor 


CHAPTER  XII 


In  Scotland's  Capital 

Historic  Spots  were  Shown  and  Many  Interesting  Things  were  Told 
—Entertained  in  Good  Old  Scotch  Fashion. 

[FTER  our  most  charming  and  perfect 
day  at  Sandringham,  nightfall  found 
us  on  the  way  to  London,  which  we 
left  late  that  evening  for  Edinburgh, 
Scotland  so>  so- 

To  and  from  Scotland  and  to  and  from 
Sandringham  we  were  struck  by  the 
apparent  fertility  of  English  farms.  Sheep,  hog  and 
cattle-raising  go  side  by  side  with  gardening.  The  wonder 
was  how  England  can  afford  to  use  its  rich  lands  for 
cattle,  hog  and  sheep-growing  when  in  New  York  State, 
with  its  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  adapted  espec- 
ially to  sheep  culture  and  worthless  for  anything  else, 
sheep-raising  has  become  a  lost  industry.  Farm  life  in 
England  seems  ideal.  All  properties  show  thrift  and 
intelligence  of  a  high  order  both  in  cultivation  and 
management.  A  prominent  English  farmer,  who  rode 
with  us  to  Edinburgh,  said  that  since  war  began  much 
valuable  land  had  been  given  over  to  stock  raising, 
because  of  the  scarcity  of  help  it  was  impossible  to  work 
land  for  regular  farm  purposes. 

At  Sandringham  early  in  war,  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  caretakers  asked  King  George's  permission 
to  go  into  the  fight.  To  this  royalty  assented  and  super- 
intendent of  landscaping  became  captain  of  a 
company  s*»  s— 

—  77  — 


World  War  Almost  in  the  beginning  of  service  at  the  front,  their 

At  Its  entire  company  was  either  killed  or  so  badly  maimed 

Climax  none  was  aD^e  to  return  to  work.  With  war  still  on  only 

^    a  dozen  men  were  about  Sandringham  at  the  time  of  our 

•    visit  there. 

Arriving  in  Edinburgh  at  seven  A.  M.,  we  were  com- 
fortably quartered  at  the  Great  Northwestern  Railway 
hotel,  breakfasted  and  began  immediately  to  see  the 
town,  its  wonderful  citadel  on  a  rocky  promontory,  with 
its  bloody  history,  going  back  to  the  Tenth  Century 
where  kings  and  queens  or  aspirants  to  the  throne  were 
beheaded,  where  belligerent  classes  fought,  where  in  a 
miserable  little  chamber  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  gave 
birth  to  James  of  Scotland  and  afterward  of  England, 
passed  the  monument  to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  the  home  of 
John  Knox,  and  were  driven  to  Holyrood  Palace,  where 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots  reigned. 

Our  automobiles  were  next  whisked  away  into  the  coun- 
try five  miles  to  the  birthplace  and  early  home  of 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson.  A  cousin  of  Robert  Louis,  tall, 
blonde,  rosy  cheeked,  handsome,  young,  vivacious, 
drove  one  of  our  cars.  She  was  acting  as  chauffeur  in  an 
effort  to  do  her  bit,  not,  however,  because  of  the  mone- 
tary stipend,  as  her  family  is  wealthy. 
Sir  J.  Lome  MacLeod,  the  Lord  Provost,  as  mayors  in 
Scotland  are  called,  gave  a  dinner  at  night  in  the  Council 
Chambers  to  which  were  bidden  prominent  officials, 
manufacturers,  business  men  and  men  of  letters  in 
Edinburgh  and  vicinity.  The  Lord  Provost  made  a 
virile  and  impressive  talk.  Our  chairman  replied.  The 
warmth  and  cordiality  of  our  reception  was  a  noticeable 
feature.  As  we  were  leaving  the  building  the  Lord 
Provost  took  my  arm  and,  accompanying  me  to  an 
elevator,  remarked  that  he  was  an  Irishman,  adding: 
'  Poor,  unhappy  Ireland!  One  of  the  regrets  of  my  life 

—  78  — 


is  that  she  is  n't  in  this  great  war.  I  'm  sorry,  so  sorry. 
She  has  erred  grievously !  ' 

In  proposing  the  health  of  the  American  guests,  Provost 
MacLeod  said  that,  within  the  month,  events  had 
marched  with  a  rapid  stride.  "  The  result  of  this  world 
issue  is  now  a  matter  of  certainty — subject,  however,  to 
many  qualifications,  careful  watchfulness  and  con- 
tinued resolution  and  purpose.  This  visit  would  be  a 
most  valuable  means  of  consolidating  the  ties  between 
the  two  countries.  The  unity  and  complete  understand- 
ing and  co-operation  of  the  English-speaking  peoples 
was  necessary  for  the  safety  of  the  world.  To  ensure  the 
reign  of  justice  and  fair  dealing  in  all  the  relations  of 
mankind,  alike  in  the  community  of  nations  as  in  the 
individual  life,  is  our  common  purpose,  and  the  highest 
purpose  and  trust  and  duty  and  obligation  imposed 
upon  the  English-speaking  race.  After  four  years  of  war, 
we  hope  that  lofty  aims  of  our  people  remain  unabated. 
A  clean  peace  and  lasting  settlement  sought,  nothing 
less  will  be  accepted.  We  await  the  outcome  with  perfect 
confidence.  Our  visitors  will  find  here  a  tremendous 
admiration  for  the  American  people — simple  and  unaf- 
fected in  its  character  for  the  attainments  and  produc- 
tion in  every  branch  of  industry,  their  strenuous  and 
robust  vitality,  the  practical  equality  of  their  citizen- 
ship and  the  hospitality  of  their  shores  to  all  national- 
ities, their  deep  moral  fervor  and  their  high  ideals  of 
human  life  and  conduct.  We  deeply  appreciate  Ameri- 
ca's immense  contributions  in  every  respect,  inexpres- 
sible indeed,  and  beyond  adequate  recognition  and 
gratitude  on  our  part.  President  Wilson  is  simply  named 
to  render  him  sincere  homage  and  to  pay  tribute  to  his 
sagacity,  profundity,  clear  vision  and  inflexible  will. 
The  British  people  have  staked  their  existence  against 
the  forces   of   barbarism   and  brutality.  After  pitiless 

—  79  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 

t 


World  War  slaughter,  torture,  devastation,  outrage  upon  the  weak, 

At  Its  the  defenceless,  and  the  oppressed  on  land  and  sea, 

Climax  eternal  justice  must  be  vindicated  by  the  Allies.  Our 

^    hope  and  purpose  are  that  the  liberties  of  mankind  will 

*    be  saved,  and  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  free  to  work 

out  their  own  salvation." 

Mr.  Franklin  P.  Glass  replied  that  members  of  our 
delegation  felt  at  home  in  Scotland,  as  many  of  them 
had  an  abundance  of  Scottish  blood  in  their  veins.  What 
was  doing  in  America  today  was  the  product  of  Scottish 
activity  of  blood  and  iron.  Woodrow  Wilson  came  of 
Scottish  blood  on  both  sides.  Some  of  them  on  the  other 
side  had  had  the  idea  that  the  people  of  Great  Britain 
were  rather  cold  and  stiff.  Perhaps  on  the  other  hand 
they  misunderstood  the  Americans;  but  the  delegation 
was  delighted  to  find  that  the  British  people  had  dis- 
covered them  in  their  true  spirit.  Americans  were  not 
altogether  a  nation  of  money -grabbers.  They  had  their 
ideals  and  were  today  pouring  out  billions  of  treasure 
and  thousands  of  lives  in  the  determination  that  the 
world  should  recognize  that  these  ideals  were  the  true 
ones  which  God  had  put  on  earth  to  be  followed  by  all 
men  $**  &*> 


80 


CHAPTER  XIII 


Unhappy  Mary  Queen  of  Scots 

Editorial  Band  Finds  Two  Factions  in  Scotland,  One  Glorifying, 
the  Other  Caustically  Censuring  Her — Her  Charm  and  Loveli- 
ness, the  Sorrow  and  Pathos  of  Her  Life,  Make  Her  One  of  the 
Outstanding  Personalities  in  History. 

|NE  approaches  Edinburgh  happy  in 
anticipation  of  viewing  the  Queen  City 
of  the  British  empire.  One  leaves  Edin- 
burgh behind,  somewhat  saddened  that 
regal  beauty  should  ever  have  been 
marred  by  man.  It  was  here  in  the 
sixteenth  century  that  Mary  Stuart, 
the  hapless  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  experienced  distress 
and  suffering  enough  in  six  years  to  fill  a  lifetime  and 
met  cares  that  ended  only  at  the  executioner's  block  in 
London  Tower;  a  woman  of  supreme  beauty,  but  white- 
haired  through  sorrow  at  forty-five,  her  physical  loveli- 
ness destroyed,  but  the  memory  of  it  preserved  in  the 
story  of  her  fatal  charms. 

A  trip  to  Edinburgh  becomes  somehow  a  pilgrimage  into 
the  shadows  that  surrounded  the  unfortunate  young 
queen  with  melancholy,  relieved  only  by  remembering 
the  greatly  out-balancing  thought  that  her  son's  reign 
began  the  union  of  England  and  Scotland  through  three 
hundred  happier  years. 

In  the  Tower  of  London  we  were  shown  the  place  where 
she  died  in  Fifteen  Hundred  Eighty-seven,  an  outcome 
of  a  plot  to  assassinate  her  envious  and  masculine  royal 
cousin,  Elizabeth.  There  were  few  more  poignant  sor- 

—  81  — 


World  War 

At  Its 

Climax 


rows  than  her  last  hours  describe,  telling  how  she  wrote 
her  will  at  night,  divided  her  jewels  among  her  servants, 
asked  their  forgiveness  if  she  had  been  wanting  toward 
them,  dined  moderately,  slept  calmly  a  few  hours,  rose 
early  and  passed  her  time  in  devotion  until  the  high 
sheriff  came. 

A  queen,  serene  in  the  reign  of  her  highest  realm,  her- 
self, with  calm  and  undaunted  fortitude  she  laid  her 
neck  on  the  block,  and  when  the  Dean  of  Peterborough 
cried  out  after  the  execution,  "  So  perish  all  Queen 
Elizabeth's  enemies!"  only  the  Earl  of  Kent  answered, 
"'Amen!  "  And,  according  to  the  records,  "  the  rest  of 
the  company  were  drowned  in  tears." 
At  Edinburgh  Castle  our  especial  attention  was  called 
to  Queen  Mary's  room,  where  she  gave  birth  to  James, 
forerunner  of  the  present  English  line.  By  present  day 
standards  it  is  a  mean  room  whose  greatest  length  is 
barely  eight  feet.  We  were  shown  an  oaken  arm-chair 
where  it  was  explained  the  princeling,  who  was  to  realize 
all  his  mother's  claims,  was  first  put  into  her  arms.  A 
block  of  wood  beside  the  fireplace,  hewn  from  a  thorn 
tree  planted  by  Mary  at  Loch  Leven,  now  contains  the 
date  of  his  birth. 

As  we  looked  from  one  of  the  great  windows  downward 
some  two  hundred  feet  and  more,  we  saw  the  Grass- 
market,  and  "  Kirk-o'-Field,"  where  murdered  Darnley 
lay,  the  father  of  the  young  prince,  slain  within  a  year 
of  that  momentous  birth. 

Each  side  of  the  castle  promontory,  250  feet  below, 
swept  waters  that  have  rushed  on  to  the  sea  in  those 
same  channels  since  before  the  time  to  which  the  strong- 
hold can  be  traced,  back  thirteen  hundred  years  to  the 
time  of  the  conquest  of  the  Picts  by  Edwin,  Prince  of 
Northumbria,  and  the  naming  of  the  town  and  the 
castle,  Edwin's  burgh. 

—  82  — 


Fatherless  when  only  seven  days  old,  fleeing  in  a  fishing  World  War 
smack  to  France  when  scarcely  six  years  old,  married  At  Its 
at  sixteen,  proclaimed  queen  of  France,  Scotland  and  Climax 
England,  widowed  at  eighteen,  married  again  at  twenty-    ^ 
one,  mother  of  a  child  of  destiny  at  twenty-two,  courted,    * 
intrigued  against,  Mary  Stuart  was  the  pawn  of  malev- 
olent forces,  rather  .than  queen  of  even  her  own  house- 
hold &*»  SO 

Marvelous  in  beauty,  brilliant  in  accomplishments, 
gentle  and  winning  in  manner,  she  was  the  logical  object 
of  hatred  to  the  haughty,  isolated  Elizabeth,  with  her 
harsh,  masculine  manner  and  unpleasant  personality, 
which  were  in  striking  contrast  with  the  glowing  beauty 
of  her  cousin. 

Still,  on  the  chessboard  of  history  on  which  they  played 
their  parts  the  unfavored  Elizabeth  became  the  queen, 
Mary  the  pawn. 

Unhappy  in  her  home  life,  the  queen  sought  in  frank- 
ness and  gayety  with  the  persons  of  her  household  to 
make  up  for  the  lack  of  happiness  elsewhere.  From  these 
apparently  innocent  diversions,  cruel  misinterpreta- 
tions, her  admirers  believe,  were  made  and  the  darkest 
misery  arose. 

The  place  is  still  shown  where  the  hideous  Rizzio  died, 
cringing  behind  the  fold  of  Mary's  skirt,  slashed  by  the 
daggers  of  assassins. 

Scotchmen  who  belong,  or  would  belong  to  a  faction  in 
bitter  opposition  to  Queen  Mary  were  she  still  living, 
call  your  attention  today  to  this  event  in  her  life  and 
declare  it  proves  that,  instead  of  being  the  devout 
religionist  her  admirers  claim,  she  was,  on  the  contrary, 
to  speak  plainly,  a  royal  wanton. 

David  Rizzio  and  his  brother,  Joseph,  had  come  from 
Piedmont  with  the  ambassador  to  Mary's  court  and 
stayed  on  as  confidant  and   secretary   to  the   queen, 

—  83  — 


so 


World  War  arousing,  by  his  constant  attendance  upon  her,  the 
At  Its  jealousy  of  Darnley  and  the  resentment  of  the  assassins. 
Climax  ^  person  of  little  grace,  he  was  nevertheless  a  skilled 
musician  and  linguist.  He  attended  to  the  queen's  cor- 
respondence in  French  and  was  familiar  with  her  affairs. 
<J  She  was  holding  a  salon  in  Holyrood,  her  then  regal 
residence,  on  the  night  of  the  murder,  the  Countess  of 
Argyll,  Rizzio  and  others  being  present,  when  Darnley 
entered  by  the  door  of  a  secret  staircase  into  the  apart- 
ment so  so 

How  Darnley  expiated  this  crime  within  a  year,  widow- 
ing Mary  for  the  second  time  at  twenty-five,  is  too 
familiar  to  need  telling  here.  Just  after  Mary  visited 
him,  a  small-pox  patient  in  an  isolated  house,  on  the  site 
of  the  present,  splendid  university  buildings,  he  was 
found  dead  in  his  garden,  his  house  blown  up. 
After  the  death  of  Rizzio,  Mary  fled  with  Darnley  to 
Dunbar,  where  she  and  her  consort  were  received  by 
Hepburn,  Earl  of  Bothwell.  He  was  the  master  hand  in 
the  death  of  Darnley,  and  him  Mary  took  as  her  third 
husband,  within  three  months  of  Darnley's  death  and 
immediately  after  he  had  obtained  annulment  of  his 
marriage  to  Lady  Jane  Gordon. 

That  was  the  end.  Within  sixty  days  she  had  abdicated 
in  favor  of  her  infant  son,  herself  to  become  a  prisoner 
at  Loch  Leven,  soon  to  infatuate  her  young  jailer  and 
to  escape  and  seek  refuge  with  cousinly  Elizabeth. 
And  beautiful,  talented,  emotional  Queen  Mary  deserves 
the  sympathy,  even  the  pity,  of  any  who  ever  touches 
or  becomes  acquainted  with  anything  that  was  of  her. 


84  — 


CHAPTER  XIV 


Glasgow 


Seeing  the  Wonderful  Great  Fleet  Which  was  the  Big  Holding  Thing 
of  the  War — More  Scottish  Hospitality 

\T  Glasgow  in  City  Chambers  a  dinner 
given  for  the  editors  was  attended  by 
prominent  officials  and  titled  and  pro- 
fessional men  of  the  city  and  neighbor- 
hood much  the  same  as  in  Edinburgh. 
The  Mayor  of  Glasgow,  Lord  Provost 
Stewart,  proposing  the  health  of  the 
guests,  paid  tribute  to  the  help  America  had  given. 
Perhaps  the  greatest  discovery  Germany  had  made  in 
this  war,  and  the  one  which  had  ruthlessly  shattered  her 
mechanical  calculations,  had  been  the  discovery  of  the 
American  soul.  What  Scotchmen  admired  most  was  the 
moral  strength  of  the  great  democratic  and  freedom- 
loving  people  in  using  their  illimitable  resources  to  pro- 
tect smaller  nations.  Sacrifices  made  by  the  gallant  sons 
of  America  and  the  Allies  would  bind  together  English- 
speaking  peoples  throughout  the  world  in  closer  bonds. 
"Auld  Lang  Syne,"  in  which  all  joined,  was  sung  with 
fervor  and  gusto. 

On  the  Clyde  River,  near  Glasgow,  at  the  great  ship 
building  plant  of  Boardman  &  Company,  shipbuilders, 
aeroplane  manufacturers  and  makers  of  other  war  equip- 
ment, eight  thousand  women  were  employed.  It  was  at 
these  works  that  the  ill-fated  Lusitania  was  fabricated. 
The  Clyde  a  few  years  ago  was  a  narrow,  shallow 
stream,  but  by  gigantic  dredging  it  today  is  wide  and 

—  85  — 


* 


World  War  deep  and  navigable  for  ocean-going  boats.  Luncheon 
At  Its  was  served  in  the  great  offices  of  the  works,  officers, 
Climax  empl°vers  anQl  workwomen  mingling  in  a  happy  meal. 
^  Speeches  by  members  of  supervising  forces  of  the 
works  followed  and  employees  (who,  a  while  before  had 
been  at  work  on  heavy  lathes)  put  on  an  excellent  pro- 
gram of  music  and  song  that  would  do  credit  to  the 
best  concert  company. 

Speaking  of  the  efficiency  of  women,  the  superintendent 
of  the  great  plant  said  they  rapidly  became  expert  in  the 
use  of  micrometer  gauges  and  were  pronounced  even 
more  efficient  than  men,  in  some  respects.  Sir  William 
Bairdmore  was  the  first  industrial  operator  in  Great 
Britain  to  have  the  audacity  to  use  women  for  these 
tasks.  He  said  it  was  either  women  or  no  work,  for  the 
men  were  all  in  the  war.  He  was  delighted  at  the  out- 
come of  his  experiment,  and  remarked  that  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  women  were  later  employed  in  all  sorts 
of  munition  work  in  Great  Britain,  and  they  had  made 
possible  the  Empire's  efficiency  in  war. 
Next  day,  Tuesday,  was  set  aside  for  a  visit  to  the  great 
fleet  in  the  Firth  of  Forth.  We  were  put  aboard  a  yacht 
and  had  lunch  on  the  Colossus.  As  there  was  influenza 
aboard  the  flagship,  where  we  were  to  have  lunched,  the 
commodore  decided  not  to  take  the  risk  of  exposing  us. 
He  came  onto  the  Colossus  and  shook  hands,  but  would 
not  remain,  as  he  declared  it  would  n't  be  fair  to  us. 
There  were  five  United  States  men-o'-war  when  we 
arrived,  and  we  were  to  have  had  tea  on  board  one  of 
them.  Albeit  an  hour  after  our  arrival,  all  five  boats  put 
out  to  sea  on  some  mysterious  errand. 
Among  the  international  throng  which  saw  our  Ameri- 
can fleet  sweep  majestically  down  Hampden  Roads  to 
Old  Point  Comfort  on  Washington's  birthday,  Nineteen 
Hundred  Twelve,  I  stood  transfixed  at  that  marvellous 

—  86  — 


sight  of  power  and  glory.  It  seemed  to  me  then  as  if  World  War 
nothing  on  the  seas  in  all  the  world  was  mighty  enough  At  Its 
to  withstand  it.  Yet  there  were  only  twenty-seven  battle  CLIM\x 
ships,  as  I  recall,  while  here  were  between  three  hundred    ^ 
and  three  hundred  fifty  such  ships,  to  say  nothing  of    * 
smaller  boats  such  as  destroyers,  cruisers,  colliers  and 
sub-chasers   which  outnumbered  the  monster  men-o'- 
war  two  to  one. 

Nothing  in  the  whole  trip  impressed  our  party  so  pro- 
foundly as  that  mighty  fleet.  Looking  up  the  Firth  of 
Forth  as  far  as  the  eye  could  carry,  these  giant  masters 
of  the  sea  were  limned  against  the  horizon.  Then  we 
understood  that  it  was  this  marvelous  fleet,  every  ship 
of  which  was  known  to  the  Kaiser,  which  made  Germany 
hesitate  so  so 

It,  beyond  all  question,  was  the  bulwark  which,  even 
when  Germany  apparently  was  .winning  on  land,  stood 
like  a  mammoth  spectre  in  the  background.  No  one  any 
longer  doubted  that  this  stupendous  armada  was  the 
holding  thing  of  the  war. 

Germany  understood  its  size  and  knew  the  weight  of  its 
power.  We  of  the  United  States  had  access  to  statistics, 
but  few  people  knew  where  to  look  for  them,  or  if  they 
did,  could  form  not  the  least  impression  of  their  respect- 
ive sizes  or  comparative  power.  Without  England's 
ships,  America  could  not  have  been  in  the  war,  as  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  transport  troops  in  any 
other  bottoms.  Without  American  soldiers,  Germany 
would  on  that  day  be  in  or  near  Paris  and  up  at  least 
to  the  Channel  ports  of  England.  No  one  of  our  party 
had  hitherto  dreamed  of  the  material  work  done  by 
Great  Britain,  of  the  blood  and  tears  shed  which  at 
length  and  forever  had  ended  so  ignominiously  for 
Germany  &&  si> 

On  the  following  day  we  went  to  the  wonderful  works 

—  87  — 


World  War  at   Gretna,  where   twelve  thousand  girls   and   women 

At  Its  were  employed  in  making  fuses  or  cordite.  We  lunched 

Climax  a^  ^ne  on^ce  °f  the  great  works.  There  are  one  thousand 

^    separate  buildings,  said  to  have  cost  more  than  one 

•     hundred   million   dollars.   As   in   the   Clyde   shops   the 

women  and  girls  were  good  looking,  well  housed  and  fed. 

A  large  hall  suitable  for  dancing  and  entertainments  of 

all  sorts  was  built  for  them.  There  was  considerable 

talent  among  them,  and  theatricals,  concerts  and  other 

forms  of  amusement  were  features.  There  was  a  splendid 

hospital  fully  equipped  in  every  way.  Explosions  were 

common  in  the  works  despite  every  possible  precaution 

taken  to  prevent  them. 

On  our  way  back  to  Carlisle  we  stopped  at  the  old 
blacksmith  shop  in  Gretna  Green  where  the  marrying 
blacksmith  united  in  wedlock  so  many  runaway  couples, 
the  romance  of  which  has  been  read  the  world  over. 


88 


CHAPTER  XV 


A  Carlisle  Experiment 

How  England  teas  Trying  to  Solve  the  Drink  Problem  and  was 
Apparently  Greatly  Pleased. 

O  us  of  America,  where  prohibition  is 
now  a  law,  if  not  an  absolute  fact, 
Great  Britain's  method  of  controlling 
the  drinking  of  alcoholic  beverages  in 
war  times  as  shown  by  experiment  at 
Carlisle  remains  an  interesting  study. 
It  impressed  me  as  a  very  wise  method ; 
certainly  the  results  proved  it  so. 

From  the  feudal  times  of  wassail  to  the  present,  Great 
Britain  has  been  a  drinking  nation.  It  drank  as  a  matter 
of  course,  just  as  it  ate  roast  beef.  English  literature  is 
permeated  with  drinking.  The  old  English  tales  tell  of 
the  brews,  the  drinking  parties,  the  merry  times. 
Dickens'  stories,  you  will  remember,  were  enlivened  with 
the  atmosphere  of  strong  drink  or  of  light  drink  like 
beer,  and  when  Micawber  made  punch  one  could  smell 
it  and  see  the  steam  rising  from  the  bowl.  Dickens  wrote 
of  the  times  that  he  knew  and  he  knew  them  well.  Other 
writers  have  shown  us  how  much  a  part  of  life  the 
whiskey  and  soda  was  to  the  higher  class  Englishman, 
while  the  workingman  regaled  himself  with  ale  and  beer. 
*I  I  have  cited  all  this  merely  to  show  the  contrast 
between  Merrie  England  and  England  at  war. 
Great  Britain  did  not  attempt  to  make  prohibition 
effective  in  the  war.  It  was  not  radical.  It  realized  that 
sobriety  or  at  least  greater  temperance  was  necessary, 

—  89  — 


World  War  but  it  realized  also  that  the  Briton  does  not  like  to  be 

At  Its  stinted  too  much.  So  it  went  about  the  movement  to 

Climax  recmce  drinking  in  what  proved  to  be  a  wise  and  effective 

g    manner.  It  did  not  prohibit;  it  reduced.  In  other  words, 

*    it  rationed  the  drinking  in  the  United  Kingdom.  It  was 

a  part  of  the  win-the-war  purpose,  and  the  British  took 

it  as  a  matter  of  course,  just  as  they  had  taken  their 

drinking,  just  as  the  average  Englishman  takes  almost 

everything  in  life. 

The  war  became  a  matter  of  course,  and  anything  that 
would  aid  in  winning  the  war  was  a  matter  of  course. 
The  government  reduced  the  number  of  hours  for  sale 
of  liquor  from  about  17  hours  a  day  to  five  and  a  half 
hours.  That  did  not  result,  as  many  might  think,  in 
the  British  trying  to  drink  as  much  in  five  and  a  half 
hours  as  they  had  drunk  in  17  hours. 
The  government  forbade  selling  drinks  on  credit.  There 
was  no  longer  a  score  at  the  public  house  or  "  pub." 
Treating  was  prohibited.  A  man  bought  his  beer,  paid 
for  it  and  drank  it.  He  did  not  have  to  drink  again  in 
pursuance  of  the  old  custom  of  "  treating  back."  That 
was  a  good  rule. 

Only  three  hours  at  night  were  the  drinking  places  per- 
mitted to  be  open,  and  the  other  two  hours  and  a  half 
permitted  were  at  midday. 

Moreover,  the  alcoholic  content  of  drinks  was  reduced. 
Much  of  "  the  kick,"  as  we  call  it  in  street  parlance,  was 
taken  out.  The  British  public,  as  I  have  said,  took  all 
this  as  a  matter  of  course. 

The  government's  effort  was  not  to  stop  drinking,  but 
to  stop  drunkenness,  and  it  succeeded  to  an  amazing 
extent  so  s& 

In  the  year  preceding  the  war  the  number  of  deaths 
from  alcoholism  was  more  than  eighteen  hundred  and 
in  Nineteen  Hundred  Seventeen  the  number  was  re- 

—  90  — 


duced  to  less  than  six  hundred,  a  reduction  of  sixty -six 
and  two-thirds  per  cent. 

There  were  less  than  one  hundred  cases  of  delirium 
tremens  reported  in  Nineteen  Hundred  Seventeen  as 
compared  with  more  than  five  hundred  in  Nineteen 
Hundred  Thirteen,  the  year  before  the  war,  surely  a 
satisfying  proof  of  the  success  of  the  government's 
methods  &*  s^ 

The  number  of  suicides  and  attempted  suicides  traced 
to  excessive  drinking  wTas  reduced  by  considerably  more 
than  fifty  per  cent. 

Arrests  for  intoxication  from  nearly  thirty -five  hundred 
each  week  dropped  to  about  six  hundred. 
The  British  government  did  more  however  than  merely 
ration  drinkables.  The  government  through  its  Board  of 
Control  practically  took  over  the  management  of  liquor 
selling.  It  instituted  reforms.  It  cleaned  up  certain  places 
that  needed  cleaning  up. 

I  think  that  the  government's  action  at  two  great  muni- 
tion centers  was  one  of  the  most  successful  and  exem- 
plary to  cite,  as  it  showrs  what  a  government  could  do  in 
the  way  of  controlling  drinking  and  the  sale  of  liquor  in  a 
non-prohibition  country.  To  me  it  seemed  a  remarkable 
demonstration  of  control  of  a  very  difficult  problem, 
control  which  left  the  people  themselves  in  full  posses- 
sion of  their  "  personal  liberties,"  a  term  which  we  often 
make  use  of  in  this  country. 

It  is  not  a  simple  matter  to  deal  with  a  problem  of  this 
kind  in  a  section  where  thousands  and  thousands  of 
workers  feel  that  they  must  have  their  stimulant.  Habit 
is  a  strong  master. 

The  experiment  was  at  Carlisle,  England,  and  at  Gretna 
Green,  just  across  the  border  in  Scotland,  the  Gretna 
Green  of  romance.  Carlisle  wTas  more  difficult  than 
Gretna.  It  had  many  public  houses,  too  many,  and  these 

—  91  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 

i 


World  War  were  in  lively  competition  for  the  trade  of  the  thousands 
At  Its  °f  workers  in  the  munitions  plants. 
Climax  Conditions  were  bad.  Intoxication  was  frequent.  There 
were  fights  and  scandals.  Aside  from  the  questions  of 
welfare  and  decency,  the  condition  was  interfering  with 
the  efficiency  of  the  workers  and  therefore  of  the  work 
of  winning  the  war. 

The  British  government  assumed  direct  control  of  the 
sale  of  liquor  there  and  it  designated  a  very  able  officer 
who  for  years  was  in  the  police  court  at  Liverpool  as  clerk 
and  afterward  magistrate  to  take  full  charge  and  to 
clean  up  Carlisle.  Virtually  the  British  government  took 
up  the  business  of  supplying  liquor  in  Carlisle.  It  went 
about  it  too  in  a  perfectly  businesslike  way.  It  bought 
the  one  hundred  twenty,  in  round  numbers,  public 
houses  at  Carlisle. 

The  owners  of  these  places  could  not  complain  that  the 
government  had  not  respected  their  rights  as  owners. 
Purchase  of  the  public  houses  was  only  a  beginning.  The 
government  set  about  reducing  the  numbers  from  one 
hundred  twenty  to  about  seventy  as  I  recall  the  figures. 
The  government  bought  the  breweries,  four  in  number 
and  used  one  only  to  make  the  beer  sold  in  Carlisle. 
It  went  further  in  cleaning  up  Carlisle.  It  put  women  in 
charge  of  the  public  houses  and  women  served 
beer  so  s& 

The  drunkenness  and  the  fighting  were  no  more.  The 
workers  drank  their  beer  with  meals  and  were  quiet  and 
orderly.  It  turned  the  public  houses,  which  had  been 
mostly  for  drinking  purposes  only,  into  taverns  or 
eating  places.  The  bars  were  abolished.  To  drink  one 
must  eat.  Beer  was  served  only  at  tables  with  sand- 
wiches or  with  other  food.  The  government  realized 
that  if  one  eats  he  does  not  drink  so  much. 
The   result   was   remarkable.   The     '  pubs  '     were   like 

—  92  — 


family  places.  There  was  comparatively  little  drinking.  World  War 
All  the  troubles  that  had  been,  ceased  to  be.  Carlisle  At  Its 
was  a  different  place.  The  government  had  succeeded  r;LIMAX 
and  moreover  the  people  affected  were  happy  and  satis-    te 
fied  $—  &+  * 

Moreover,  the  government's  operation  of  the  public 
houses  was  done  at  a  profit.  It  was  not  merely  good 
policy,  it  was  good  business. 

It  should  be  mentioned  that  sales  of  spirits  to  be  drunk 
away  from  the  premises  were  forbidden  on  Saturdays, 
so  there  could  be  no  week-end  drunkenness. 
As  I  recall  the  methods  of  the  British  government  at 
Carlisle  and  elsewhere  it  occurs  to  me  that  perhaps 
prohibition  would  not  have  come  to  this  country,  as 
early  as  it  did,  if  these  same  methods  had  been  em- 
ployed in  America  in  peace  times.  I  am  not  holding  a 
brief  for  the  sale  of  liquor  in  America.  I  am  merely  point- 
ing out  that  if  this  government,  all  governments  in  fact, 
had  handled  at  all  times  the  liquor  problem  as  England 
handled  it  in  times  of  war,  the  drink  evil  would  never 
have  been  what  it  became. 

England's  control  of  liquor  selling  during  the  war  surely 
proved  that  the  use  of  alcoholic  beverages  could  be 
regulated  in  such  a  way  as  to  reduce  to  a  minimum  the 
evils  resulting  from  such  use.  I  repeat  this  not  as  an 
argument,  but  merely  to  point  out  what  all  governments 
might  have  done  years  ago. 

AN  EXPLANATION 

Misgivings  and  trepidations  characterized  a  meeting 
at  headquarters  in  London  to  discuss  a  trip  into 
Ireland  for  a  study  of  all  aspects  of  the  Irish  question. 
Many  of  our  party,  who  in  former  European  travels 
had  visited  the  Emerald  Isle,  believed  time  could 
be  used  to  better  advantage  elsewhere.  A  few  dreaded 

—  93  — 


? 


World  War  the  trip,  saying  they  were  reminded  of  Mark  Twain's 
At  Its  famous  utterance:  "  Bermuda's  heaven,  but  it's  hell  to 
Climax  £e^  there."  Both  Irish  and  English  channels  are  noted 
for  their  roughness.  Added  to  this,  the  Leinster  had  a 
short  time  before  been  submarined  and  sunk  in  crossing 
to  Dublin.  Then,  it  had  been  planned  that  the  magazine 
group  preceding  us  visit  Ireland,  but  it  had,  for  reasons 
best  known  to  itself,  given  up  the  journey.  A  few  of  us 
took  the  position  that  were  we  not  to  go  our  motives 
might  be  impugned  and  our  British  hosts  censured  and 
charged  with  bad  faith.  Fear  was  expressed  that  as  we 
were  guests  of  Great  Britain  the  latter  might  be  thought 
to  control  our  actions  and  movements.  Indeed,  that  was 
the  Irish  interpretation  of  the  magazine  men's  failure 
to  go  over.  Major  Malone,  an  Irish  soldier  in  British 
service,  who,  because  of  his  knowledge  of  Irish  affairs, 
was  assigned  to  accompany  us,  was  called  into  consulta- 
tion and  the  situation  discussed  in  every  detail.  It  was 
explained  that  all  of  us  had  thousands  of  readers,  Irish 
or  of  Irish  extraction  and  that  we  did  not  care  to  go  back 
and  face  them  with  the  fact  that  we  had  an  opportunity 
to  study,  first  hand,  Ireland's  problems  and  were  so 
utterly  indifferent  as  not  to  avail  ourselves  of  it. 
Then  the  acting  head  of  the  Ministry  of  Information 
was  called  in  and  all  matters  were  again  fully  gone 
over  s«»  s«» 

We  were  retold  that  the  Ministry  of  Information  had 
decided  not  to  attempt  to  dictate  nor  in  any  way 
influence  us;  that  not  only  had  it  planned  for  us  a  tour 
of  England  but  had  sent  us  to  Scotland,  loaned  us,  as 
it  were,  to  France  and  Belgium  and  Ireland.  While 
England  did  not  wish  to  impose  further  hardships  upon 
us,  (our  tripfhaving  been  exceedingly  strenuous  up  to 
this  point)  nevertheless  she  would  be  immensely  pleased 
were  we  to  go  over  to  Ireland  and  look  frankly  and  fully 

—  94  — 


upon  both  sides  of  the  Irish  question.  It  would  relieve  World  War 

her  of  what  she  regarded  as  unjust  censure  on  the  part  At  Its 

of  Ireland,  and  our  party,  of  the  criticism  that  it  was  Climax 

under  British  influence  because  Great  Britain  was  meet-    g 

ing  our  expenses. 

The  meeting  ended  in  our  resolving  to  make  the  journey. 


95  — 


PART  IV 


Ireland 

Getting  a  Slant  on  Sinn  Feiners 
and  ulsterites 

Visiting  Seats  of  Antagonistic  Par- 
ties, Dublin  and  Belfast 


Changes  that  Have  Been  Wrought 
in  Three  Years 


CHAPTER  XVI 


The  Ulster  Viewpoint 

A  Two-Day  Study  at  Belfast  of  the  Opposition  Party  in  Ireland — 
Feeling  Against  Southern  Ireland  Found  Very  Tense  and  Bitter. 

[O  better  chapter  can  be  written  now 
upon  Ulster's  views  than  a  composite 
article  produced  by  the  Editorial  party 
while  in  Belfast  and  which,  among 
other  newspapers,  was  printed  in  The 
Herald  at  that  time.  It  read: 
"An  attempt  was  made  by  the  Ameri- 
can editors  to  study  the  Irish  question  on  Irish  soil. 
They  made  a  visit  to  Belfast,  the  stronghold  of  Ulster- 
ism,  and  interviewed  representatives  of  all  classes, 
official  and  unofficial,  capital  and  labor,  employer  and 
employee,  and  they  heard  the  cause  of  free  and  independ- 
ent Ireland  pleaded  by  the  bellicose  generals  and  cap- 
tains of  Sinn  Feinism.  The  Ulster  view  is  presented  in 
this  letter. 

"  Broadly,  Ulster  represents  imperial  Britain;  Sinn  Fein 
is  now  the  voice  and  arm  of  militant  Ireland.  The  Ulster 
movement,  four  years  or  more  ago,  was  a  protest  against 
home  rule.  It  was  outright  secession  against  the  pro- 
posed constitutional  separation  of  Ireland.  It  was  a 
threatened  war  upon  England,  having  as  its  provoca- 
tion and  basis  the  proposal  that  there  be  a  political 
secession  from  Great  Britain.  Altogether  it  was  an 
anomaly,  an  anachronism.  Just  think,  for  example,  of  a 
sovereign  state  in  the  American  republic  resorting  to 
arms  in  defiance  of  a  federal  project  to  exclude  it  from 

—  9!)  — 


World  War  the  Union.   Yet  Ulster  planned   to  fight  the  British 
At  Its  empire  to  preserve  its  sovereign  rights  to  be  and  remain 

Climax  an  mtegral  Part  °f  tne  British  empire. 

s  "  Ulster  is  Protestant  and  essentially  British,  while  the 
*  rest  of  Ireland  is  Catholic  and  intrinsically  Irish.  It  is 
not  intended  to  say  that  the  controversy  is  religious  or 
sectarian;  but  certainly  the  Church  furnishes  the  back- 
ground of  the  entire  trouble.  You  will  hear  in  Ireland, 
from  Irish  and  Catholic  witnesses,  that  the  greatest  of 
Irish  patriots  have  been  Protestant;  and  that  the  Irish 
revolution  of  Seventeen  Hundred  Ninety-eight  had  its 
origin  with  Protestants.  Unquestionably,  many  of  the 
supporters  of  Irish  Nationalism  today  are  non-Catholic; 
and  others  of  the  supporters  of  the  empire,  foes  of  sepa- 
ration and  home  rule,  are  Catholic.  But  Ireland  outside 
of  Ulster  is  overwhelmingly  Catholic,  and  Ulster,  at 
least  Belfast,  which  furnishes  a  big  slice  of  Ulster's 
population,  is  strongly  Protestant;  and  the  geographical 
cleavage  is  very  nearly  identical  with  the  sectarian  line. 
Whether  or  not  it  is  a  coincidence  may  be  a  matter  of 
opinion.  That  it  is  a  fact  will  be  everywhere  in  Great 
Britain  conceded.  But  that  the  Church  as  an  organiza- 
tion is  responsible  for  the  constant  agitation  of  the  Irish 
question  is  not  generally  charged,  I  believe,  even  in 
Ulster.  A  reasonable  explanation  is  that  it  follows  rather 
than  leads  in  political  affairs.  Its  faithful  adherence  to 
such  a  policy  may  be  one  secret  of  its  powerful  hold  on 
the  majority  of  the  Irish  people. 

"  The  case  of  Ulster  is  substantially  that  it  has  pros- 
pered under  British  laws  and  rule,  and  that  it  has  no 
confidence  in  an  independent  Ireland  controlled  from 
Dublin.  It  is  opposed  to  home  rule — unless  indeed 
Ulster  shall  be  excluded  from  its  operation — and  it  is 
opposed  to  separation.  It  wants  to  be  let  alone.  Belfast 
is  the  most  active,  populous  and  prosperous  city  in  the 

—  100  — 


island.  It  points  proudly  to  the  fact  that  it  has  five  of  World  War 
the  greatest  industries  of  their  kind  in  the  world — linen,  At  Its 
tobacco,  rope,  ship-building,  cotton — that  it  has  three  Climax 
and  one-half  times  more  shipping  than  the  rest  of  Ire-    * 
land.  From  the  time  of  the  Act  of  Union  (Eighteen  Hun-    ' 
dred)  until  Eighteen  Hundred  Ninety-one,  Belfast  mul- 
tiplied its  population  thirteen  and  one-half  times — a 
record  without  a  parallel  in  the  United  Kingdom.  Ulster 
claims  that  it  produces  forty-eight  per  cent  of  all  Irish 
oats,  forty -one  per  cent  of  potatoes,  fifty-three  per  cent 
of  fruit  and  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  flax,  and  pays  in 
customs  and  revenue  nearly  twenty -five  million  pounds, 
or  more  than  twice  the  remainder  of  Ireland. 
"  It  is  not  easy  for  the  American  to  note  with  unconcern 
the  employment  anywhere  of  young  boys  and  girls  in 
great  numbers,  at  hard   labor,  and   under  conditions 
that  do  not  appear  to  guarantee  either  their  health  or 
their  proper  education.  In  the  munitions  factories  of 
England  there  are  many  thousand  women. 
"  It  is  unavoidable  and  care  seems  to  have  been  taken 
to  safeguard  them  in  every  practical  way.  But  it  is  not 
at  all  clear  that  child  labor  is  justifiable,  in  the  way  it 
is  used  at  Belfast.  At  the  linen  mill,  young  boys  were 
used  as  the  operatives  of  great  machines,  and  in  the 
tobacco  works  the  majority  of  the  workers  were  boys 
and  girls — mostly  the  latter.  It  is  said  that  none  under 
fourteen  is  employed.  There  were  many  who  appeared  to 
be  not  much  over  that  tender  age.  There  were  hundreds 
and  even  thousands  who  were  too  young  to  be  kept  out 
of  school,  and  whose  chances  of  an  education,  and  there- 
fore of  a  life  worth  while,  were  surely  greatly  hampered 
by  the  exacting  grind  to  which  they  were  subjected. 
Probably  it  will  be  said  that  they  are  not  required  to 
work  every  day.  Indeed,  it  was  said  at  Belfast.  But 
many  of  them  unquestionably  do  and  few  of  them  looked 

—  101  — 


? 


World  War  as  if  they  had  any  opportunity  for  play,  or  rational 
At  Its  recreation  of  any  kind,  such  as  is  the  right  of  every  child. 
Climax  ^  "  Child  labor  has  no  place,  apparently,  in  any  con- 
sideration of  the  Irish  question  in  Ireland.  There  is  no 
thought  in  Dublin,  for  example,  of  complaint  that  Bel- 
fast's prosperity  is  maintained  in  great  part  by  boy  and 
girl  labor;  for  Dublin  itself  has  made  no  special  progress 
in  helpful  and  humane  service  to  the  younger  genera- 
tion. Dublin  has  its  slums,  and  they  are  no  credit  to 
that  city.  Later,  however,  in  a  stroll  through  the  back 
streets  of  Liverpool,  squalor,  filth  and  wretched  living 
conditions  I  witnessed  seemed  to  me  to  be  far  more 
general  than  in  Dublin.  A  welfare  worker  appeared  before 
the  editors  at  Dublin,  and  gave  a  description  of  life 
among  the  poor  in  the  Irish  capital  that  somewhat  dis- 
turbed them.  He  wanted  their  help  to  get  a  meagre 
five  thousand  dollars  out  of  the  imperial  government  to 
carry  on  uplift  work  among  the  numerous  ignorant  boys 
and  young  men  of  Dublin.  Hundreds  of  them,  he  said, 
could  not  read  even  the  head-lines  of  the  papers  they 
sold  in  the  streets. 

"  The  present  status  of  home  rule  in  Ireland  is  that  the 
British  Parliament,  under  the  premiership  of  Mr. 
Asquith,  passed  a  bill  giving  the  Irish  a  certain  measure 
of  autonomy,  with  a  home  legislative  body,  having 
certain  limited  powers  over  taxation.  The  objections  of 
Ulster  were  vehement,  not  to  say  violent,  and  it  was 
then  arranged  to  exclude  six  counties  of  that  province. 
But  it  was  a  settlement  that  did  not  settle  anything, 
and  finally  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  not  then  premier,  to 
whom  had  been  referred  the  problem  for  solution, 
devised  an  Irish  convention,  which  was  to  determine 
for  itself  just  what  Ireland  wanted.  The  inauguration  of 
home  rule  was  indefinitely  postponed,  pending  action 
by  the  convention;  and  there  was  an  implied  pledge 

—  102  — 


that  the  government  would  accept  any  adjustment  the  World  War 
convention  was  able  to  make.  It  was  an  entirely  safe  At  Its 
promise,  whatever  the  convention  did  or  failed  to  do,  Cttmax 
for  it  appeared  true  that  England  is  sick  of  the  Irish    ^ 
question  and  will  agree  to  anything  that  bids  fair  to    ' 
get  it  out  of  the  way. 

"  The  convention,  in  which  Ulster  with  some  reluctance 
agreed  to  participate,  started  out  with  high  expecta- 
tions. But  after  eight  long  months  of  deliberation  and 
disagreement,  it  ended  fruitlessly.  Its  chief  political 
result  seems  to  have  been  to  precipitate  the  National 
(Irish)  party  in  hopeless  wreck.  The  leader  was  the  late 
John  Redmond,  who  was  a  member  of  the  convention. 
It  appears  to  be  clear  that  Mr.  Redmond  sought 
earnestly  and  hopefully  to  find  some  way  to  reconcile 
all  conflicting  interests  and  factions.  His  temper  was 
always  so  reasonable  and  his  fairness  so  manifest  that 
an  Ulster  delegate  publicly  paid  tribute  to  him,  saying: 
'  I  am  convinced  that  he  had  an  honest  and  genuine 
intention  of  holding  out  the  olive  branch,  and  sub- 
mitting such  moderate  demands  as  might  have  justified 
the  Ulster  delegates  in  consulting  their  constituents 
regarding  them.'  This  was  a  great  concession  for  any 
Ulsterite  to  make. 

"  Mr.  Redmond  entered  into  an  arrangement  with  Lord 
Middleton  and  his  party  to  promote  a  plan  of  Irish 
autonomy,  with  a  government  having  control  of  excise 
and  other  sources  of  revenue,  but  not  of  customs.  The 
Ulster  delegates  had  made  it  plain  that  under  no  cir- 
cumstances and  for  no  consideration,  would  they  have 
anything  to  do  with  proposals  which  involved  establish- 
ment of  an  Irish  parliament,  with  plenary  authority 
over  customs  and  excise.  Nevertheless,  the  Redmond- 
Middleton  coalition  appeared  to  be  in  a  majority,  and 
the  prospect  of  an  agreement  on  their  proposition  was 

—  103  — 


World  War  auspicious.  But  the  radicals,  under  Bishop  McDonnell, 
At  Its  a  very  able  prelate,  got  busy  during  a  recess  of  the  con- 
Climax  venti°n'  and  converted  a  minority  into  a  majority  by 
^    their  appeals  to  the  country,  and  the  Redmond-Middle- 
*    ton  plan  was  defeated.   Lord  Middleton  then  joined 
Bishop  McDonnell  in  a  proposal  to  set  up  an  independ- 
ent parliament  in  Ireland,  with  the  single  reservation 
that  the  question  of  customs  and  excise  should  be  held 
in  abeyance  till  after  the  war.  This  was  the  official  action 
of  the  convention,  by  a  very  narrow  majority.  But  in 
fact  the  delegates  departed  with  thoughts  and  ideas  as 
fixed  and  diverse  as  when  they  entered ;  and  no  one  now 
assumes  that  the  slightest  attention  will  be  paid  by 
Parliament  to  its  action. 

"At  the  ship-building  plant  of  Workman,  Clark  & 
Company,  Ltd.,  a  number  of  workers  had  been  assem- 
bled to  give  the  editors  their  views  of  home  rule  or 
Irish  independence.  It  was  an  interesting  performance. 
Each  of  the  men,  representing  the  various  unionized 
trades  in  the  establishment,  gave  evidence  of  his  im- 
placable opposition  to  a  separate  government  for  Ire- 
land. One  of  them  made  a  set  address,  distinguished  by 
a  certain  rough  eloquence,  that  made  a  distinct  impres- 
sion on  his  hearers.  The  men  declared  they  were  con- 
tented with  their  lot,  and  had  no  political  grievances 
which  could  be  adjusted  by  Dublin.  They  believed  that 
Irish  government  meant  the  death  of  industry  in  Bel- 
fast, for  it  would  precipitate  an  era  of  onerous  taxation 
and  special  discrimination  against  Ulster. 
'  Capital  would  have  no  recourse  but  to  seek  new 
fields,  and  what  could  labor  do  but  move  also?  Their 
true  allegiance  was  to  Great  Britain.  The  trades  unions 
to  which  they  belonged  were  British  and  they  had  bene- 
fited much  by  their  policies.  If  they  were  to  be  cut  off 
from  them,  they  were  sure  they  would  have  far  less 

—  104  — 


protection  as  union  men;  and  therefore  in  their  own  World  War 
interest,  they  desired  to  maintain  the  British  connec-  At  Its 

tion  ^  ^  Climax 

"  They  proclaimed  their  complete  sympathy  with  Great  g 
Britain  in  the  war,  and  unhesitatingly  said  that  Ireland  " 
elsewhere  was  not  so  loyal. 

"  It  is  given  out  in  Belfast  as  a  fact  that  Ulster  has  con- 
tributed to  the  British  army  during  the  war,  fifty-nine 
thousand  recruits,  while  the  combined  total  of  all  the 
other  provinces  of  Ireland  is  fifty-one  thousand  seven 
hundred.  The  city  of  Belfast,  with  a  population  of 
403,000  has  furnished  more  soldiers  than  Connaught, 
Munster  and  Leinster,  (excluding  Dublin)  with  2,066,- 
000  population.  The  percentages  of  males  of  military 
age  who  have  enlisted  are:  Ulster  33.8;  Leinster  17.7; 
Munster  11.7;  Connaught  4.9.  In  a  recent  war  loan 
Belfast  contributed  £25,000,000,  or  about  85  per  cent 
of  the  total  for  Ireland. 

"  It  is  said  that  when  conscription  was  abandoned,  in 
consequence  of  the  great  furore  in  Ireland,  a  promise 
was  made  that  Ireland  would  furnish  at  least  50,000 
volunteers.  But  10,000  was  the  maximum  to  be  attained. 
<I  "  The  other  day  in  Parliament,  T.  P.  O'Connor,  the 
veteran  Home  Ruler,  introduced  a  resolution  that  '  It 
is  essential  that,  before  the  British  government  take 
any  part  in  any  proceeding  for  the  resettlement  of 
Europe  on  the  conclusion  of  peace,  the  Irish  question 
should  be  settled  in  accordance  with  the  principles  laid 
down  by  President  Wilson.'  A  spirited  debate  followed, 
in  which  all  the  old  ground  of  England's  bad  faith  with 
Ireland  was  surveyed,  and  the  demand  was  made  that 
autonomy  be  granted.  Mr.  Asquith,  the  ex-premier, 
supported  the  proposal,  which  was  strongly  opposed  by 
Bonar  Law,  for  the  government.  Bonar  Law  openly 
declared   that  it  was  nothing  but  a  bold  scheme  to 

—  105  — 


World  War  exclude  Great  Britain  from  the  peace  conference.  Inci- 
At  Its  dentally,  he  charged  John  Dillon,  the  Irish  leader,  with 
Climax  navm8'  boasted  that  he  had  taken  no  part  in  any 
recruiting  campaign — an  accusation  which  Mr.  Dillon 
heatedly  denied;  but  Bonar  Law  refused  to  recede. 
"  Altogether  the  debate  gave  an  interesting  side  light  on 
the  whole  Irish  question.  On  the  one  hand  the  govern- 
ment is  obviously  hopeless  about  any  satisfactory  result, 
and  does  not  intend  to  try  to  effect  it  now.  Only  a  day 
or  twTo  since  Lloyd  George,  in  a  public  letter  supporting 
further  coalition  between  the  Liberals  and  Conservatives 
in  the  coming  election,  definitely  said:  k  I  can  support 
no  settlement  of  the  Irish  question  which  would  involve 
the  forcible  coercion  of  Ulster.'  So  Ulster  has  won. 
"  On  the  other  hand,  the  Irish  Nationalists,  who  seem 
to  have  been  all  but  leaderless  since  the  death  of  John 
Redmond  (who  is  said  to  have  literally  broken  his  heart 
over  his  failure  in  Irish  convention)  are  discredited  at 
home,  and  most  of  them  have  no  hope  of  re-election. 
They  are  righting  for  a  lost  cause,  and  they  know  it. 
The  Sinn  Feiners  have  the  upper  hand,  and  the  Nation- 
alists will  soon  no  doubt  cease  for  the  present  to  func- 
tion as  a  party." 


106 


CHAPTER  XVII 


Sinn  Fein 

A  Verbatim  Report  of  a  meeting  with  that  party — A  Frank  Admis- 
sion on  the  Part  of  Sinn  Feiners  that  they  were  Helped  by  Ger- 
many but  still  were  not  Pro-Germans. 

HE  Sinn  Feiners  are  the  dominant 
political  force  in  Ireland  today.  It  is 
the  newest  phase  of  the  ever  changing 
cycle  of  public  events  here.  It  is  a 
young  man's  movement,  with  the  fire 
and  indiscretion  of  vouth.  It  has  set 
aside  the  old  leaders,  absorbed  their 
following  and  embarked  boldly  upon  a  course  which  is 
designed  to  lead  to  absolute  separation  from  the  British 
empire  s^  $& 

Independence  and  a  distinct  national  existence  is  the 
Sinn  Fein  goal.  There  is  no  disguise  about  it;  nor  is  there 
concealment  of  their  scheme  of  outright  rebellion,  which 
is  to  be  the  final  alternative  if  other  plans  fail.  They  say 
that  any  possible  hope  of  constitutional  reform  may  as 
well  be  abandoned,  in  view  of  the  failure  of  all  parlia- 
mentary measures,  and  they  openty  flout  home  rule  or 
colonial  government,  or  any  other  proposal  which  would 
hold  Ireland  as  an  integral  unit  of  the  British  empire. 
They  are  not  British,  nor  Scottish,  they  say.  They  are 
Irish  &+  &+■ 

Ireland  was  a  distinct  race,  with  the  full  attribute  of 
nationhood,  before  England  was;  and  of  right  they 
should  and  must  be  free.  Their  chief  present  reliance  for 
independence,  or  separation,  as  it  is  commonly  called 

—  107  — 


World  War  here,  is  the  forthcoming  peace  conference,  which  is  com- 

At  Its  mitted  in  advance,  through  acceptance  by  all  nations 

Climax  °^  ^ne  f°urteen  declarations,  to  the  principle  that  small 

^    peoples  have  the  right  of  self-determination. 

•    It  is  the  Wilson  idea.  That  is  where  the  Sinn  Feiners  got 

it.  If  the  peace  conference  rejects  their  pleas — well,  they 

will  carry  on  the  war  in  ways  they  are  not  ready  to 

define  or  divulge.  And  they  will  make,  as  their  fathers 

made  before  them,  so  they  say,  all  necessary  sacrifices 

in  life  and  blood  until  the  great  end  shall  be  achieved. 

What  matter  a  few   thousand  lives  of  patriotic  and 

zealous  Irishmen  now  or  later? 

The  visiting  American  editors  saw  the  Sinn  Feiners  in 
Dublin.  They  had  announced  in  passing  through  the 
Irish  capital  on  their  way  to  Belfast  that  they  would 
return  and  they  would  be  pleased  to  hear  what  the  Sinn 
Feiners  and  any  others  might  have  to  say  on  the  Irish 
question.  The  leaders  of  the  Sinn  Fein  were  not  slow  to 
take  advantage  of  the  opportunity.  They  saw,  doubt- 
less, a  way  to  spread  their  propaganda  in  America,  and 
to  correct  what  they  thought  were  certain  misappre- 
hensions as  to  their  motives,  methods  and  ultimate 
aims^^  s& 

A  half  dozen  or  more  of  them  came  at  the  appointed 
time,  in  a  waiting-room  at  a  large  Dublin  hotel.  Not 
one  of  them  appeared  to  be  more  than  thirty -five  years 
of  age.  They  were  collectively  an  alert-looking,  keen- 
minded  and  neatly  dressed  lot  of  Irishmen,  and  indi- 
vidually they  were  educated,  fluent,  aggressive  and 
candid.  They  did  not  appear  to  be  the  stuff  of  which 
martyrs  are  made,  though  they  evidently  were;  and 
they  were  likewise  far  removed  from  the  type  of  low- 
browed, rough-necked  and  quarrelsome  hooligans  that 
represents  the  doctrine  of  force  and  terrorism  which 
has  its  exponents  in  Ireland.  They  were  altogether  a 

—  108  — 


presentable  group  of  men  who  knew  exactly  what  they  World  War 
wanted,  and  were  not  afraid  to  say  so.  At  Its 

The  interview  began  with  a  statement  by  one  of  them,  Climax 
an  officer  of  the  Sinn  Fein,  as  to  the  historic  grievances    g 
and  present  wTrongs  of  Ireland.  For  seven  hundred  years    " 
Ireland   had   suffered   the   abuses   and   oppressions   of 
England  and  it  still  retained  its  unconquerable  soul  and 
it  never  would  consent  to  be  ruled  by  the  tyrant.  There 
was  a  great  deal  more  like  it. 

"  Let  us  all  agree,"  said  one  of  the  editors,  "  that  every- 
thing you  say  is  true  about  the  past  and  that  Ireland 
has  suffered  much  from  England's  misgovernment. 
What  about  the  situation  today?  ' 

"  There  is  no  intrinsic  change  now  in  England's  posi- 
tion toward  Ireland,"  was  the  answer.  "  WTe  are  un- 
justly taxed.  We  are  denied  our  rights.  We  have  no  such 
thing  as  free  speech  or  individual  liberty.  We  are  thrown 
into  prison  by  the  hundreds  for  such  trifling  misde- 
meanors as  the  singing  of  a  song  which  England  does 
not  like.  The  Irish  coast  is  a  fortress  and  the  island 
is  a  mere  garrison  for  two  hundred  thousand  British 
soldiers  sv  $** 

"  We  are  denied  education  for  our  children.  We  are  im- 
poverished and  miserable.  We  have  declined  in  popu- 
lation, for  example  from  more  than  eight  million  to  a 
little  more  than  four  million.  Our  industries  languish 
through  discriminations  of  many  kinds.  We  do  not  get 
justice  in  the  courts.  Not  long  since  there  was  a  brutal 
murder  in  one  of  our  towns.  The  keeper  of  a  public 
house  had  kicked  to  death  an  inoffensive  woman,  with 
no  provocation.  He  was  tried  and  found  guilty  and  the 
judge,  appointed  by  the  Crown,  sentenced  him  to 
imprisonment  for  twelve  months,  saying  that  he  was  a 
loyal  citizen,  for  he  had  served  the  empire  well  by 
zealous  service  in  procuring  recruits  for  the  army." 

—  109  — 


World  War  "  What  is  the  reason  Ireland  has  given  so  few  soldiers 
At  Its  to  the  British  army?  " 
Climax  "  Because  we  are  not  British.  We  are  not  free  men.  We 
-a    are  slaves  or  but  little  better.  Why  should  we  fight  to 
•     make  Great  Britain  strong?  Britain  went  to  war  to  save 
its  skin;  why  should  we  help?  Let  us  have  our  freedom 
and  we  can  then  decide  on  which  side  in  the  war  to 
fight.  But  how  can  slaves  make  a  choice?  ' 
"  Are  you  pro-German?  ' 
"  We  are  not.  We  are  pro-Irish." 
"  But  you  have  accepted  help  from  Germany?  ' 
"  Yes.  But  we  have  taken  it  as  we  would  have  from 
America   or   France,    or   any   outsider.    But   we   have 
incurred  no  obligations  to  Germany  that  we  have  not 
incurred  to  others  who  are  sympathetic  and  disposed 
to  lend  us  a  hand." 

"  Is  it  not  true  that  there  was  a  plan  to  land  arms  at  an 
Irish  port  through  Sir  Roger  Casement?  Was  he  not  in 
the  German  pay?  ' 

"  Sir  Roger  was  not  in  the  German  employ.  He  was  an 
Irish  patriot.  He  sought  assistance  against  England, 
our  enemy,  and  for  Ireland,  and  he  got  it.  But  unfor- 
tunately his  plans  miscarried  and  he  was  arrested  and 
imprisoned,  and  later  executed.  This  was  in  Nineteen 
Hundred  Sixteen,  long  before  America  entered  the  war. 
We  have  had  no  truck  or  bargain  with  Germany  since. 
Though  Sir  Roger  was  in  British  custody,  we  went  ahead 
with  our  plans  for  an  uprising.  We  fought  England  and 
all  its  power  and  there  were  many  casualties  and  much 
loss  of  life.  We  have  been  accused  of  cowardice.  Does 
that  look  like  cowardice?  The  rebellion  failed  and  our 
leaders  voluntarily  surrendered.  Great  Britain  promptly 
shot  to  death  eleven  of  them.  One  of  our  party  here  was 
among  those  sentenced  to  death,  but  later  he  was  freed. 
Yet  he  is  under  constant  surveillance  and  is  liable  to 

—  110  — 


arrest  and  imprisonment  or  worse  at  any  time.  From 
four  hundred  to  six  hundred  Irishmen  are  now  in  jail, 
all  of  them  for  political  offences.  Yet  we  will  not  quit." 
T[  "Are  you  aware  of  the  fact  that  American  sympathy 
for  the  cause  of  Irish  freedom  has  declined  as  a  result  of 
Sinn  Feinism  and  the  failure  of  Ireland  to  play  the  part 
in  the  war  America  thinks  Ireland  should  play?  ' 
"  If  that  is  so  it  is  due  to  the  lying  propaganda  of  Eng- 
land against  Ireland.  Lord  Northcliffe  is  behind  it  all. 
He  has  spent  more  British  money  in  an  effort  to  poison 
the  American  mind  against  Ireland  then  he  has  spent 
in  his  anti-German  propaganda  in  Germany.  An 
American  transport  was  sunk  on  the  Irish  coast  and  a 
lot  of  American  soldiers  were  landed  on  Irish  soil;  some 
of  them  in  a  dying  condition.  It  was  widely  printed 
throughout  America  that  Ireland  had  treated  them 
inhospitably,  refusing  to  care  for  them.  Lord  North- 
cliffe did  that." 

It  was  suggested  that  they  probably  referred  to  the  loss 
of  the  Tuscania  and  the  landing  of  many  American 
troops  on  the  north  coast  of  Ireland.  The  editors  all 
assured  the  Sinn  Feiners  that  they  had  seen  in  no 
American  newspaper  any  description  of  the  event  im- 
puting to  Ireland  a  lack  of  hospitality  or  humanity. 
"  We  think  America  owes  us  gratitude  and  support," 
they  continued.  "  We  are  rebels  against  England — so 
were  you.  You  were  successful,  but  why?  Because  you 
had  so  many  Irishmen  as  soldiers  in  your  revolution. 
George  Washington  said  that  without  them  the  war 
for  American  independence  would  have  failed.  Now 
you  tell  us  that  we  have  lost  America's  sympathy.  There 
are  twenty  million  Irishmen  in  America,  and  you  will 
have  them  to  reckon  with  in  case  you  go  back  on  Ire- 
land. It  is  inconceivable  to  us  that  you  can  do  so.  We 
rely  absolutely  on  President  Wilson  and  America. 

—  Ill  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 


to 


^7orldWar    '  President  Wilson  is  definitely  on  record  for  the  self- 

At  Its  determination  of  small  peoples.  We  are  a  small  people 

Climax  *n   Precisery   tne   sense   that   the   Jugo-Slavs   and   the 

Czecho-Slavs  are  small  peoples.  Our  distinct  racial  iden- 
tity is  further  emphasized  by  the  fact  that  Ireland  is  an 
island.  Geographically,  ethnologically,  historically,  the 
Irish  are  a  race,  a  people,  a  nation." 

'  What  do  you  expect  President  Wilson  to  do  for  you?  ' 
^  '"  We  shall  appear  before  the  peace  conference  which 
stands  for  the  fourteen  Wilson  articles  of  peace,  includ- 
ing the  right  of  self -definition  and  self-government,  and 
ask  for  recognition.  How  can  it  be  denied?  We  have 
come  to  regard  President  Wilson  as  the  savior  of  man- 
kind. How  can  he  refuse  to  stand  by  us,  unless  he  is  the 
world's  greatest  hypocrite?  " 

Yet  the  peace  conference  may  refer  your  case  back  to 
the  British  Empire.  What  will  be  your  next  step?  " 

1  We  shall  carry  on  the  fight.  Thousands  of  Irishmen 
will  die,  but  they  are  ready;  then  other  thousands.  But 
it  will  be  the  same  till  we  get  our  rights." 

'  But  surely  you  have  a  concrete  plan  of  action? ' 

Yes,  we  shall  set  up  a  government  of  our  own  at 
Dublin.  In  the  coming  Parliamentary  election  we  shall 
elect  at  least  seventy-five  out  of  the  one  hundred  two 
members  of  Parliament.  They  will  not  take  their  place 
at  Westminster.  Vacant  seats  there  will  be  the  silent 
witnesses  of  our  purpose  to  have  no  more  to  do  with  the 
British  Empire.  These  seventy-five  members  will  be 
the  nucleus  of  a  new  Irish  parliament.  Sixty  of  our 
candidates  are  now  in  jail.  But  it  makes  no  difference. 
We  shall  find  ways  to  get  them  out." 

'  Will  you  not  be  satisfied  if  Great  Britain  gives  you 
home  rule?  " 

'  No.  First,  she  will  not  give  it.  Second,  we  don't  want 
it,  and  we  demand,  and  will  have,  our  freedom." 

—  112  — 


"  How  is  it  that  Irish  sentiment  has  for  so  many  years  World  War 
favored    home    rule,    and    not  *  separation?    Why    the  At  Its 

change?"  #»  #»  Climax 

"There  is  no  change.  With  Ireland,  home  rule  was    g 
merely  a  means  to  an  end ;  a  step  toward  the  real  goal — 
independence.  We  have  never  wanted  anything  else. 
We  would  never  have  been  content  with  anything  else. 
Parnell  and  all  the  real  Irish  leaders  actually  aimed  at 
separation  and  a  distinct  nationhood.  We  repudiate  any 
other  policy.   We   repudiate   the   so-called   nationalist 
leaders  who  would  give  us  half  a  loaf.  They  are  done, 
for  we  are  done  with  them." 
"  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  Ulster?  ' 
"  We  believe  in  majority  rule.  It  is  the  republican  way. 
Ireland  must  determine  for  herself  what  kind  of  govern- 
ment she  will  have.  We  will  take  our  chances  in  that 
kind  of  decision.  Let  Ulster  do  the  same." 
"Are  you  not  aware  that  most  Ulster  men  have  signed 
a  covenant  that  they  will  never  consent  to  be  governed 
from  Dublin?  " 

"  Yes.  But  that  is  mainly  bluff.  What  are  they  to  do  but 
accept  the  government  Ireland  chooses  to  give  them? 
They  will  have  no  alternative." 

"  Do  you  regard  Ireland  as  capable  of  self-government?" 
<I  "  Most  certainly.  The  days  of  Irish  freedom  from 
England  were  Ireland's  most  prosperous  era.  We  have 
the  resources,  we  have  the  men,  we  will  get  the  money. 
We  want  Ireland's  taxes  spent  in  Ireland.  We  want 
fiscal  freedom.  We  are  paying  Great  Britain  in  taxes 
more  than  thirty  million  pounds  per  year.  We  can 
administer  an  Irish  government  with  eleven  million 
pounds.  We  would  impose  our  own  tariffs,  create  our 
own  industries,  find  our  own  markets.  It  is  true  that 
England  is  now  our  best  market.  But  if  England  lays  a 
discriminative  tariff  against  us  we  shall  build  a  tariff 

—  113  — 


World  War  wall  against  England.  Why  can't  we  sell  our  products 
At  Its  to  America  and  all  the  world?  " 
Climax      You  have  only  a  few  million  people.  How  can  you 
«a    expect  to  maintain  yourselves  when  you  are  out  from 
*     under  the  protection  of  the  British  navy?  ' 

'  Great  Britain  is  the  last  remaining  autocracy.  It  must 
go.  British  navalism  is  a  menace  to  the  peace  of  the 
world.  America  talks  much  of  the  freedom  of  the  seas. 
Some  day  you  will  be  called  on  to  bring  the  British 
navy  to  account.  We  may  safely  leave  all  that  to  you. 
Ireland  will  be  a  small  nation,  but  it  is  the  day  when 
small  nations  are  coming  into  their  own.  Look  at  Den- 
mark, Holland,  Norway,  Sweden,  Switzerland.  Geo- 
graphically Ireland  is  twice  as  large  as  the  next  largest 
small  nation.  It  should  have,  and  will  have,  commen- 
surate population  and  wealth." 
"  Have  you  thought  of  Belgium?  ' 

"  Yes.  But  Belgium  was  in  Germany's  road.  If  Belgium 
had  given  German  troops  right  of  way,  there  would 
have  been  no  trouble." 

"  Is  the  Sinn  Fein  a  Catholic  organization?  Is  the 
Catholic  Church  in  any  way  responsible  for  the  present 
state  of  affairs  in  Ireland?  ' 

"  No.  Ireland  is  three-fourths  Catholic,  and  naturally 
the  Sinn  Feiners  are  mostly  Catholics,  as  all  other 
revolutionary  movements  have  been.  But  it  should  be 
remembered  that  Wolf  Tone,  the  great  leader,  was  a 
Protestant,  and  so  were  most  of  his  associates.  Robert 
Emmet  was  a  Protestant.  The  division  in  Ireland  today 
is  rather  geographical  than  denominational.  Many 
Protestants  outside  of  Ulster  are  with  us.  Most  Protes- 
tants in  Ulster  are  against  us,  and  doubtless  many 
Catholics.  The  Church  follows,  rather  than  leads,  the 
political  sentiment  that  prevails  within  its  environ- 
ment." £•»  &** 

—  114  — 


f 


And  so  the  debate  ran  on  for  hours.  The  Sinn  Feiners  World  War 

were  earnest,  enthusiastic  and,   it  may  be  supposed,  At  Its 

sincere.  It  is  not  the  design  here  to  say  that  they  were  Climax 

visionary,  misguided  or  mistaken;  only  to  reveal  what 

is  in  their  minds.  The  climax  of  the  day  was  reached 

when  the  question  was  asked: 

"  Is  a  compromise  with  England  not  possible?  " 

"  No.  England  has  given  us  the  worst  government  in 

the  world.  But  if  England  gave  us  the  best  government 

in   the   world,   we   should   fight  for   our  freedom   and 

independence." 


—  115  — 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


Dined  by  Lord  Decies  in  Dublin 

Interesting  Social  Function  at  Shelbourne  Hotel.  At  which  Irishmen 
Prominent  in  Official  Life  were  Present. 

10RD  DECIES  entertained  the  Ameri- 
can journalists  at  dinner  in  the  Shel- 
bourne Hotel  when  prominent  gentle- 
men met  the  visitors. 
The  toasts  of  "  the  King  '  and  the 
"  President  of  the  United  States ' 
were  duly  honored. 
Lord  Decies  in  proposing  the  health  of  the  visitors 
regretted  that  their  visit  to  Ireland  was  such  a  short 
one.  The  time  at  their  disposal  permitted  only  of  visit- 
ing Dublin  and  the  great  industrial  city  of  Belfast.  He 
had  no  doubt  they  had  seen  much,  heard  much,  and 
learned  much,  but  these  cities,  interesting  as  they  were, 
were  not  all  Ireland,  and  he  should  have  greatly  liked 
them  to  have  the  opportunity  of  studying  the  agri- 
cultural Ireland,  which,  even  more  than  the  great 
centers,  gives  its  character  to  the  national  life.  They 
had  seen  industries  of  peace  and  war,  but  they  had  not 
seen  the  effort  of  the  farmers  and  laborers  of  Ireland 
to  supply  food  for  their  own  population  and  that  of 
Great  Britain,  and  to  do  their  share  in  defeating  the 
menace  which  had  so  long  haunted  the  seas. 
He  also  regretted  that  this  was  the  first  party  of  Ameri- 
can press  who  had  been  able  to  pay  a  visit  to  Ireland  in 
the  four  years  of  war.  He  believed  that  the  whole  future 
peace  of  humanity  depended  on  a  union  of  ideal  and 

—  117  — 


World  War  effort  between  the  English-speaking  peoples  of  Europe 
At  Its  and  America.  In  the  United  States  there  were  many 
Climax  mnli°ns  °f  citizens  of  Irish  birth  and  Irish  descent. 
L  Naturally  and  rightly  their  hearts  turned  to  the  old 
*  country,  and  they  were  deeply  interested  in  her  happi- 
ness and  prosperity.  The  Irish  problem  was  one  in 
which  the  American  nation  as  a  whole  took  a  deeper 
concern  than  in  any  other  foreign  question,  and  because 
of  that  he  believed  it  to  be  in  the  highest  interest  of 
the  United  States,  of  Great  Britain,  and  of  Ireland, 
that  leaders  of  American  opinion  should  have  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  this  island  and  its  affairs, 
which  could  only  be  obtained  by  personal  investigation. 
To  that  end  he  had  during  the  past  two  years  urged 
strongly  and  persistently  that  all  parties  of  leading 
Americans  who  visit  Great  Britain  should  also  visit 
Ireland,  and  when  there,  should  have  every  oppor- 
tunity of  meeting  men  of  all  classes,  creeds,  and  politics, 
and  of  learning  all  that  could  be  learned  of  the 
complex  elements  that  go  to  make  the  Irish  question. 
Their  presence  was  a  pleasant  fulfillment  of  that  wish, 
and  he  hoped  it  was  an  augury  of  many  future  visits  to 
this  country  by  other  distinguished  representatives  of 
the  great  Republic. 

Mr.  Franklin  P.  Glass,  of  Birmingham,  Alabama,  who 
responded,  is  an  old  fellow  student  and  friend  of  Presi- 
dent WTilson.  He  said  they  were  tremendously  interested 
in  the  Irish  question.  America  was,  to  a  large  extent, 
the  creation  in  fact,  in  spirit,  and  in  purpose  of  Ireland. 
Irishmen  went  to  America  in  thousands  during  many 
years  and  they  had  a  considerable  part  in  bringing  about 
an  American  revolution  which  was  said  to  have  taught 
England  an  important  lesson  in  handling  her  colonies. 
WThether  England  was  able  to  solve  the  Irish  question 
with  as  much  wisdom  and  efficiency  as  she  succeeded 

—  118  — 


in  solving  the  colonial  question  remained  to  be  demon-  World  War 
strated.  If  they,  as  Americans,  could  be  of  assistance  in  At  Its 
that,  they  would  be  delighted  to  give  assistance.  Climax 

The  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  Ireland,  in  proposing  the  * 
toast  of  "America,"  spoke  of  the  close  bonds  which  had  * 
united  Ireland  to  America,  and  expressed  the  hope  that 
America  would  do  everything  in  its  power  to  promote 
the  happiness  of  Ireland,  as  Ireland  in  the  past  had  done 
a  great  deal  to  promote  the  strength  of  America. 
Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  also  speaking  to  the  toast,  referred 
to  the  prominent  part  the  Irish  had  taken  in  the 
American  contribution  to  the  war,  not  only  on  land,  but 
perhaps  more  so  on  sea.  He  pointed  to  the  rather  strange 
fact  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  American  navy 
and  so  small  a  proportion  of  England's  was  Irish.  He  went 
on  to  say  that  he  had  been  one  of  those  who  realized 
the  immense  importance  of  trying  to  reach  an  Irish 
settlement  during  the  war.  Many  held  that  it  was  a 
most  inopportune  time  to  be  discussing  such  a  problem, 
but  he  personally  held  that  never  was  there  such  an 
opportunity.  He  felt  that  the  effect  of  this  world-shaking 
event  would  probably  divert  the  minds  of  Irishmen 
from  the  more  local  aspects  of  their  problem  and  enable 
them  to  take  the  larger  view  of  it;  that  it  would  appeal 
as  never  before  to  the  highest  instincts,  the  historic 
instincts  of  the  Irish  people,  and  although  those  of  them 
who  had  been  engaged  in  an  earnest  and  protracted 
endeavor  to  reach  a  settlement  during  the  war  were 
disappointed,  he  believed  they  did  not  labor  in  vain, 
and  if  they  did  not  settle  the  Irish  question  they  made 
it  more  amenable  to  settlement  than  it  had  ever  been 
before.  He  held  that  what  he  might  call  the  peace  value 
of  a  settlement  between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  was 
of  immeasurably  greater  importance  than  any  possible 
war  effect  the  settlement  might  have  had.  When  after 

—  119  — 


World  War  the  war  they  had  to  pass  from  the  question  of  what 
At  Its  they  were  fighting  against  to  the  question  of  what  they 
Clim\x  were   fighting   for,    the   problems   would   be   far   more 
-    complex,  and  as  they  became  less  questions  of  physical 
T     power    and    more    questions    of    political    reasoning   a 
settlement  of  the  questions  of  small  nationalities  would 
become  more  urgent  than  ever  before.  In  the  ultimate 
settlement  of  the  Irish  question  he  did  not  anticipate 
that  the  United  States  government  was  likely  to  take 
an  active  part.  It  would  be  wholly  unnecessary.  But 
the  weight  and  influence  of  the  American  people  would 
be  not  only  helpful,  but  would  probably  be  a  determin- 
ing factor  in  the  settlement  of  a  question  which  was  of 
as  much  interest  and  importance  to  them  as  it  was  to 
this  country,  and  every  right-thinking  man  would  be 
anxious  to  assist  them  to  see  the  Irish  question  in  every 
one  of  its  different  points  of  view. 

The  company  assembled  to  meet  the  American  visitors 
also  included  the  City  High  Sheriff  (Mr.  A.  Beattie, 
D.  L.),  Mr.  Wm.  M.  Murphy,  Gen.  Byrne,  Col.  Fowie. 
Capt.  Gwynn,  M.  P.,  Sir  B.  Sheffield,  Rev.  Dr.  Mur- 
ray, Major  Montague,  etc. 

PO  S  T  L U  D  E 

In  the  three  years  following  the  visit  of  the  American 
newspaper  delegation,  Ireland  has  been  the  scene  of 
epochal  events;  but  neither  the  aims  of  the  irreconcilable 
extremists  nor  the  fears  of  those  who  deemed 
Ireland's  struggle  for  political  liberty  hopeless,  have  been 
realized.  The  Irish  Free  State  has  been  born.  Its  estab- 
lishment is  a  notch  short  of  the  absolutely  independent 
Irish  Republic  which  was  the  ultimate  object  of  the 
predominant  Sinn  Fein  faction. 

The  plan  of  campaign  outlined  by  the  Sinn  Fein  leaders 
to  their  American  listeners,  as  already  mentioned,  was 

—  120  — 


Climax 

? 


put  in  operation  in  the  general  Parliamentary  elections  World  War 
of  Nineteen  Hundred  Eighteen.  The  volume  and  At  Its 
violence  of  the  Sinn  Fein  movement  that  overswept 
Ireland  at  that  time  may  be  judged  from  a  simple 
mathematical  comparison.  In  the  outgoing,  or  War, 
Parliament,  Southern  Ireland — i.e.,  the  anti-British 
constituencies — had  ninety  representatives,  of  whom 
only  six  were  avowed  Sinn  Feiners,  while  nearly  all  the 
rest,  or  seventy-eight,  were  Irish  Nationalists,  or  Home 
Rulers,  who  had  followed  the  leadership  of  John  E. 
Redmond,  recently  deceased,  and  John  Dillon.  But 
when  the  returns  for  the  Parliamentary  election  follow- 
ing the  Armistice  were  all  in,  it  was  found  that  the  Sinn 
Feiners  had  elected  seventy-three  members  and  the 
Home  Rulers  only  seven. 

This  striking  reversal  told  the  whole  story  of  the  Sinn 
Fein  avalanche.  What  is  more,  the  seventy-eight  Sinn 
Feiners  were  elected,  not  to  sit  in  Parliament,  but  to 
protest  against  British  rule  by  staying  home.  Their 
seats  were  never  filled;  and  thus  one  of  the  predictions 
made  to  the  American  visitors  was  verified. 
The  political  revolt  of  aroused  Ireland  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  armed  rebellion.  For  more  than  two  years 
most  of  the  counties  of  Southern  Ireland  were  in  a  state 
of  insurrection.  Owing  to  the  strict  British  censorship, 
little  was  known  by  the  outside  world  of  the  progress  of 
the  fighting.  It  has  since  gradually  come  out  that  in  the 
later  months  of  the  rebellion,  the  British  army  of  occu- 
pation, including  the  considerable  body  of  irregular 
troops  known  as  "  Black-and-Tans,"  was  not  far  from 
one  hundred  thousand.  But  in  the  reports  that  filtered 
through  there  were  accounts  of  sharp  local  engage- 
ments, and  many  interesting  stories  of  the  prowess  and 
enterprise  of  the  leader  of  the  Irish  insurgents,  General 
Michael  Collins. 

—  121  — 


World  War  The  on-looking  world  had  just  begun  to  settle  down  to 
At  Its  tne  contemplation  of  a  long,  weary  and  sanguinary 
Climax  struggle  in  Ireland,  when  in  the  early  fall  of  Nineteen 
e,  Hundred  Twenty -one  it  was  surprised,  almost  startled, 
■  by  the  news  that  an  Irish  delegation  had  accepted  an 
invitation  to  go  to  London  and  treat  for  peace  and  a 
settlement  with  Premier  Lloyd  George  and  other  min- 
isters of  the  British  crown.  Next  came  the  announce- 
ment of  a  truce  and  the  departure  of  an  Irish  delegation, 
including  Eamonn  de  Valera,  President  of  the  Republic 
that  had  been  proclaimed  by  the  Sinn  Fein.  The  result- 
ing conference  was  abortive,  but  it  paved  the  way  for  a 
second  meeting,  which  yielded  historic  results. 
Among  the  delegates  to  the  second  conference  was 
General  Collins  and  the  founder  of  the  Sinn  Fein,  the 
famous  Arthur  Griffith.  The  upshot  of  its  deliberations 
was  the  memorable  4  London  Treaty,"  which  led  to 
the  organization  of  the  Irish  Free  State.  This  was  in 
December,  Nineteen  Hundred  Twenty-one.  Within  a 
few  weeks  the  treaty  was  approved  in  the  face  of 
strenuous  opposition  on  the  part  of  Mr.  De  Valera  and 
his  sympathizers,  by  a  small  but  decisive  majority. 
Five  months  later  it  was  endorsed  by  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  Irish  voters,  in  a  general  election  of 
members  of  the  Dail  Eireann,  the  legislative  body  of 
the  Free  State. 

In  the  first  months  of  existence  Ireland's  new  ship  of 
state  encountered  stormy  weather.  A  surviving  faction 
of  the  Irish  Republican  army  rebelled  against  the 
London  settlement,  and  De  Valera  took  the  lead  in 
letter  propaganda  against  the  Free  State  compromise. 
The  outcome  was  a  period  of  local,  desultory  warfare, 
chiefly  in  Dublin  and  Cork,  between  the  soldiers  of  the 
Free  State's  army  and  the  regulars  of  the  extreme 
Republican  wing.  Satisfactory  headway  had  been  made 

—  n°  — 


iii  putting  down  the  revolt  when  the  new  government  World  War 
was  severely  afflicted  by  the  death  of  Arthur  Griffith,  At  Its 
President  of  the  Dail  Eireann.  Another  and  more  sensa-  Climax 
tional  loss  was  in  store  for  it,  in  the  tragic  death  of    ^ 
Michael  Collins,  chief  of  the  Irish  administration,  who    ' 
was  killed  by  rebel  soldiers  firing  from  ambush. 
These  calamities,  painful  as  they  were,  had  a  pacifica- 
tory effect.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Dail  Eireann  held 
after  the  deaths  of  Griffith  and  Collins,  the  members 
elected  Richard  A.  Cosgrave  president  of  their  body, 
and  in  his  first  official  address  he  pledged  himself  and 
his  supporters  to  work  for  Irish  unity  and  to  continue 
the  policies  of  which  Griffith  and  Collins  had  been  the 
leading  advocates. 


m\w  tetal   I ^''-"'•'iwf^rj^-iiil1 


~  -^ 


O'Cormel!   "Street  <xn2  'Sridcfe  .   l>ublin. 


—  123 


PART  V 

France  and  Belgium 


Visiting  the  Battle  Fronts  in 
Both  the  Above  Countries 


Paris  and  Its  Sights 


Prelude 

S  a  prelude  to  the  tour  to  battle  fronts 
in  France  and  Belgium,  Lord  Beaver- 
brook  had  asked  us  to  his  charming 
country  seat  in  Surrey,  about  twenty 
miles  out  of  London,  Sunday,  October 
Twentieth.  Lord  Beaverbrook's  sister 
and  his  brother,  Major  Aitken,  were 
guests  of  the  retreats.  Major  Aitken  was  in  the  Canadian 
service,  out  of  the  firing  line  on  rest  leave.  His  home 
was  at  Saskatchewan,  Canadian  Northwest.  Lady 
Beaverbrook  was  a  daughter  of  one  of  Canada's  most 
prominent  generals,  whose  home  was  in  Toronto.  Lady 
Beaverbrook  and  her  sister  entertained  our  party  in  the 
most  gracious  and  democratic  fashion,  his  Lordship 
being  ill.  Later,  however,  Lord  Beaverbrook  dressed 
and,  coming  down  stairs,  put  on  a  moving  picture  show 
of  war  scenes  which  had  been  shown  only  to  a  few 
government  officials.  Of  course,  the  strictest  secrecy  was 
enjoined  so»  s©» 

Beaverbrook  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  country 
homes  in  England.  An  English  lord  many  years  ago 
had  at  forty  been  told  he  had  only  a  few  years  to  live. 
A  man  of  great  wealth,  he  decided  to  relinquish  all  busi- 
ness cares  and  bought  the  valley  tract  of  land  wherein 
Beaverbrook  is  situated  and  devoted  his  entire  time  to 
developing  it.  From  all  over  the  world  he  gathered  tree 
and  shrub  and  flower  and  plant.  And  instead  of  dying 
in  a  few  years  the  founder  of  this  wonderful  estate 
lived  to  see  it  reach  its  full  fruition  and  died  only  after 
he  had  passed  ninety. 

—  U7  — 


World  War  Major  Aitken,  who  was  my  companion  on  a  tour  of  the 
At  Its  grounds,  asked  me  what  I  thought  of  the  place,  to  which 

Climax  ^  answered: 

"  If  I  owned  Sandringham,  where  the  King  and  Queen 
entertained  us  a  week  ago  today,  and  Beaverbrook,  I  'd 
rent  Sandringham  and  live  in  Beaverbrook.  And  no 
disparagement  is  meant  to  Sandringham,  which  is  one 
of  the  finest  country  seats  I  've  ever  seen." 
There  were  three  Beaverbrook  children,  the  oldest 
about  ten.  Lord  and  Lady  Beaverbrook,  the  Lord's 
sister  and  brother,  and  the  children,  aside  from  a  great 
dinner,  gave  us  a  day  full  of  charm  and  welcome  that 
was  genuine  and  homelike  and  remains  a  pleasing 
memory  with  all  of  us. 


128 


CHAPTER  XIX 


Ancient  Lympne 


Churches,  Castles  and  Other  Buildings  Go  Back  Beyond  the  Dark- 
Ages — Lympne,  Quaint  and  Ancient,  Deeply  Interests  the 
Stranger — It  comes  Down  to  us  from  Centuries  Before  the  Dark 
Ages. 

[YTHE,  England,  has  for  centuries 
been  known  as  a  favorite  watering 
place.  Lympne,  in  years  gone  by,  was 
on  an  estuarv  that  in  recent  years  has 
become  filled  in  so  that  today  it  is 
three  miles  inland  and  is  thought  to 
have  been  the  original  harbor  which 
gave  Hythe  a  place  among  the  Cinque  ports.  The 
course  of  the  ancient  estuary  may  be  distinctly  traced 
from  here  along  the  road  to  Hythe,  the  sea  sand  lying 
on  the  surface  and  coloring  the  soil.  Here  are  the  remains 
of  a  Roman  fortress,  and  excavations  have  brought  to 
light  many  remains  of  the  Roman  Portus  Lemanis. 
Large  portions  of  the  fortress  walls  are  standing.  At  the 
southwest  corner  is  one  of  the  circular  towers  which 
occurred  along  the  line  of  the  wall.  The  site  is  now 
occupied  by  the  fine  old  castellated  mansion,  Studfall 
castle,  formerly  a  residence  of  the  archdeacons  of 
Canterbury.  The  name  denotes  a  fallen  place,  and  is 
infrequently  thus  applied  to  ancient  remains.  The 
church  at  Lympne  is  Early  English,  with  a  Norman 
tower  built  by  Archbishop  Lanfranc,  and  Roman  ma- 
terial may  be  traced  in  the  walls.  A  short  distance  east 
is  Shipway  or  Shepway  Cross,  where  some  of  the  great 

—  129  — 


World  War  assemblies  relating  to  the   Cinque  ports  were  held.  A 
At  Its  m^e  north   from   Hythe   is   Saltwood   castle,   of   very 
Cl  ancient  origin,  but  rebuilt  in  the  time  of  Richard  II. 

The  castle  was  granted  to  the  See  of  Canterbury  in 
Ten  Hundred  Twenty-six,  but  escheated  to  the  crown 
in  the  time  of  Henry  II,  when  the  murder  of  Thomas  a 
Beckett  is  said  to  have  been  conceived  there,  and, 
returned  to  the  archdeacons  by  King  John,  to  remain 
their  residence  until  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  It  was 
restored  as  a  residence  in  Eighteen  Hundred  Eighty- 
two.  About  two  miles  northwest  of  Saltwood  are  remains 
of  the  fortified  Fourteenth-Century  manor-house  of 
Westenhanger.  It  is  quadrangular  and  surrounded  by  a 
moat,  and  of  the  nine  towers,  (alternately  round  and 
square,)  by  which  the  walls  were  defended,  three 
remain  5*»  s«» 


raisins 


'  "'•-'.  ->-*. 


**3s%,n]r — 


Lyrapive   C***le 


L30  — 


CHAPTER  XX 


A  Flight  Not  Flown 


What  Man  Has  Done  Man  Can  Do — Newspaper  Men  Resolve  to 
Do  All  Magazine  Contemporaries  Had  Done  and  Many 
Things  They  Had  Left  Undone. 

jN  ever  present  ambition  filled  the  minds 
of  the  intrepid  editors  to  outdo  and 
excel  their  magazine  predecessors 
abroad  in  every  experience  and  en- 
deavor. We  met  them  in  London  on 
our  arrival  there,  their  mission  com- 
pleted, home  bound.  Feigning  an  air 
of  lofty  disdain,  Edward  W.  Bok  of  the  Ladies'  Home 
Journal  asked  why  we  had  come: 
"  To  end  the  war,"  was  the  reply. 

Thereupon  Bok  cited  the  collapse  of  Bulgaria  as  an 
accomplishment  of  his  party. 
To  this  the  defender  of  our  party  answered : 
"  It 's  all  perfectly  plain.  We  were  within  three  days  of 
Liverpool  and  sent  the  Bulgarians  a  wireless  saying 
twelve  live  American  newspaper  publishers — not  maga- 
zine publishers,  but  real  publishers — were  coming.  With 
a  look  of  abject  defeat  upon  their  faces  they  said, 
'  What 's  the  use?  '  threw  up  their  hands  and  quit."  &+■ 
And  when  our  British  hosts  informed  us  that  magazine 
men  had  been  invited  to  visit  Ireland  and  to  fly  across 
the  English  Channel  and  had  done  neither,  we  resolved 
that  ignominy  such  as  attached  to  magazine  men  should 
not  come  to  us.  Told  that  a  paramount  feature  of  our 
London  to  Paris  journey  was  a  flight  over  the  English 

—  131  — 


World  War  Channel  in  an  airplane,  we  promptly  accepted  the  offer, 
At  Its  which  promised  a  maximum  of  thrills  with  a  minimum 

Climax  °^  danger. 

£  A  few  days  before  we  had  left  England  for  France  a 
*  monster  Handley-Page  machine  with  a  passenger- 
capacity  of  forty  and  capable  of  a  speed  of  one  hundred 
miles  an  hour  flew  over  London  in  a  trial  preliminary 
to  establishing  a  passenger  air  service  between  London 
and  Paris,  which  became  an  accomplished  fact  a  few 
months  later.  Flights  over  the  English  channel  were  being 
regularly  made  at  the  time. 

Lympne  was  the  great  English  station  for  assembling 
airplanes.  American  and  British  machines  were  taken 
here,  assembled,  inspected,  tried  out  and  flown  in  flocks 
to  Allied  fronts.  We  had  gone  there  by  train  from  Lon- 
don and  detrained  to  make  our  flight  to  France  by  air- 
plane £»  &*■ 

Misgivings,  discussions,  inquiries  and  anxieties  arose 
as  the  giant  Handley-Page  machine,  with  its  powerful 
motors,  eight  hundred  horsepower,  was  pointed  out. 
It  was  drawn  afield  from  its  hangar  by  an  immense 
tractor.  We  manifested  tensest  interest  in  the  ponder- 
ous airship  and  fell  to  discussing  the  status  of  our 
accident  insurance  policies,  should  there  be  a  mishap. 
We  decided  we  would  be  guilty  of  a  forbidden  hazard 
and  that  insurance  companies  might  refuse  to  pay. 
Comparing  notes,  it  was  revealed  that  most  of  us  carried 
heavy  general  insurance  and  if  lost  in  the  flight  would 
sell  ourselves  to  the  insurance  companies  at  rather  stiff 
sums.  It  seemed  a  glowing  prospect  to  greatly  enrich 
posterity  financially  should  we  make  the  supreme  sacri- 
fice. We  thought  of  the  many  nice  things  that  would 
be  told  of  us  back  home  in  big  black  type — things  w  < 
had  never  known  while  living.  After  all,  what  did  a 
dozen  editors  more  or  less  matter,  anyway?  Would  n't 

—  132  — 


we  sink  to  sleep  in  the  comforting  thought  that  we  had  World  War 
outdone  our  magazine  brethren?  At  Its 

The  day  was  cloudy  and  misty  with  an  absence  of  wind,  Climax 
ideal  for  an  air  voyage,  in  the  minds  of  the  uninitiated,    & 
Then  came  the  disturbing  thought  that  German  air    • 
buccaneers  might  neglect  to  sound  their  fog  horns  when 
coming  suddenly  upon  us  behind  a  dark  cloud,  bag  the 
whole  bunch  of  American  publishers  and  make  oft'  for 
Berlin  with  them. 

A  Scotch  colonel,  after  our  first  preparation  to  fly,  told 
us  of  the  great  cost  of  constructing  the  mighty  machine 
we  were  to  take,  and  said  that  another  attempt  might  be 
made  just  before  noon  if  it  cleared  in  the  interim.  "  Per- 
haps you  won't  mind  a  slight  chance  of  a  difficult  land- 
ing," he  observed. 

"  Oh,  not  at  all,  not  at  all,"  chimed  the  editors,  "  though 
of  course  we  would  n't  for  all  the  world  have  you  take 
the  chance  of  damaging  so  valuable  a  Handley-Page 
machine  on  our  account.  There  are  other  ways  of  reach- 
ing France." 

Meanwhile  we  had  absorbingly  watched  aviators  take 
machine  after  machine  and  fly  away,  undisturbed  by 
conditions.  They  were  testing  out  a  fleet  of  planes 
designed  for  war  use  which  were  to  be  taken  over  and 
would  act  as  a  sort  of  aerial  convoy  to  the  grand  flight 
of  the  editors. 

The  voyagers  were  shown  about  plant  and  field.  Thou- 
sands of  women  worked  in  plants  and  hangars.  Came 
noon  and  from  out  of  buildings  they  poured  in  marching 
squads  into  the  plaza  in  the  center  of  the  place.  In 
platoons  they  marched  away  to  luncheon.  It  was  an 
inspiring  spectacle. 

The  heavens  were  still  murky,  and  our  colonel-host 
invited  us  to  lunch  at  Lympne  castle,  ancient  rendezvous 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  now  headquarters  of 

—  133  — 


World  War  an  aviation  corps.  In  an  hour  or  so  he  promised  we 

At  Its  might  be  able  to  make  the  flight.  Lunch  half  over,  the 

Climax  c°l°nel>  called  to  the  telephone,  returned  shortly  with 

'g    beaming  countenance  saying,  he  had  just  heard  from 

*    France  and  he  believed  we  would  soon  be  able  to  make 

the  flight  so  s+ 

As  we  sat  chatting  after  our  lunch,  seven  British  aces, 
bristling  with  medals,  insignia  of  bravery,  came  in  and 
took  a  table  back  of  me.  One  of  them  had  evidently 
just  returned  from  the  front  and  told  minutely  in  an 
undertone  of  a  thrilling  battle  in  the  air  with  three 
Boches  a  few  days  before.  Unfortunately,  eagerly  never- 
theless, I  drank  in  every  word  of  it.  He  had  been  sur- 
prised. He  described  how  he  did  nose  dives,  tail  dives, 
volplaned,  and  executed  the  various  other  maneuvers 
necessary  to  outwit  and  deceive  his  antagonist,  before 
he  shot  down  a  German  ace,  his  machine  in  flames, 
and  drove  off  the  other  two. 

It  was  a  graphic  tale.  Upon  me,  however,  it  acted  as 
anything  but  a  good  digestant. 

We  were  marched  back  to  the  colonel's  offices  and 
everything  was  made  ready  for  our  flight.  It  gets  very 
cold  a  few  thousand  feet  up  in  the  air  and  there  were 
electrically  heated  coats,  helmets,  fur  gloves,  goggles, 
all  piled  in  a  heap.  At  headquarters  we  were  informed 
it  was  necessary  for  a  plane  to  attain  a  height  of  ten 
thousand  feet  so  that  should  anything  happen  over  the 
channel  we  could,  without  power,  volplane  or  glide 
either  over  to  France  or  back  to  England. 
The  big  Handley-Page  machine  was  again  hauled  out 
by  a  tractor  and  workmen  got  busy  testing  apparatus, 
adjusting  wings,  trying  the  engine  and  whirling  the 
propeller.  Clad  in  our  uncouth  paraphernalia,  as  if 
about  to  begin  a  Polar  expedition,  twelve  gloomy 
editors  closely  watched  tactics.  It  was  a  tense  moment. 

— 134  — 


«3 


In  my  report orial  days,  I  recalled,  I  had  seen  one  man  World  War 

go  to  the  gallows  and,  at  another  time,  one  sent  to  the  At  Its 

electric  chair,  when  a  member  of  our  party  broke  in  £LIMAX 

upon  my  melancholy  meditations  with: 

"  Well,  O'Hara,  how  do  you  feel  about  it  now?  ' 

"  Just  as  you  do,  you  hypocrite,  outwardly  calm  and 

boastful;  inwardly  praying  for  rain." 

In  early  childhood  a  good  mother  inspired  this  writer 

with  an  abiding  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer.  Our 

colonel-host  looked  up  at  dark  clouds  hanging  over  the 

channel,   said    it  was  raining  in  France  and  solemnly 

remarked : 

"  Well,  there  's  one  chance  in  a  hundred  it  may  not  be 

all  right.  With  my  own  men  I  'd  have  to  take  that 

chance.    You    are    Americans,    guests    of    the    British 

government,  and  I  'm  not  going  to  take  that  chance 

with  you  gentlemen." 

Soon  it  rained  and  we  were  on  our  way  by  automobile 

to  Folkestone,  whence  we  sailed  for  Boulogne.  We  were 

met   there  by  British  officers    with    automobiles,   had 

a  good  dinner  at  a  French  restaurant,  and  at  ten  o'clock 

resumed  our  journey  to  Radinghem,  that  was  to  be  our 

headquarters  during  our  stay  at  the  fighting  fronts  in 

France  and  Belgium.  A  two  hours'  swift  ride  over  a  fair 

road  through  stately  Lombardy  poplar  trees  brought  us 

to  our  chateau  shortly  before  midnight. 


135  — 


CHAPTER  XXI 


£^£SSBfl 

Vvlfl 

ISil 

■ff)t^ 

'  *"1H 

Radinghem  Castle 

Historical  Old  Chateau  which  General  Haig  in  Pursuit  of  Retreatiag 
Germans  Abandoned  Four  Weeks  Before  Arrival  of  the  Editors. 

ADINGHEM  Chateau,  or  castle,  which- 
ever name  one  is  pleased  to  use,  is  of 
massive  stone  construction  and  digni- 
fied, imposing  architecture.  Tall,  circu- 
lar towers  and  minarets  give  it  an 
appearance  of  great  size  without  and 
spaciousness  within,  the  latter  not 
borne  out  on  inspection,  as  beyond  an  extensive  dining 
hall  and  a  big  living  room,  each  with  huge,  old-fashioned 
fireplaces,  the  chateau,  for  its  size,  is  cut  up  into  many 
small  rooms. 

A  moat,  reminiscent  of  mediaeval  days,  surrounds  the 
chateau,  with  its  quaint,  ancient-looking  draw-bridges, 
which  in  olden  times  were  raised  at  night,  protecting 
occupants  of  the  castle  against  unwelcome  visitors  or 
marauding  bands  which  then  infested  the  country.  In 
the  hills  beyond  the  chateau  is  the  source  of 
the  river  Lys,  of  which  the  moat  is  a  part,  so  that  the 
latter  is  always  abundantly  supplied  with  water. 
Spacious  grounds,  with  a  wilderness  of  big  trees,  green- 
houses, grottoes  and  fountains,  tell  of  former  rich 
attractiveness.  While  the  chateau  bears  the  appearance 
of  great  age,  it  really  was  built  only  seventy-five  years 
ago  by  an  Englishman.  Some  parts  of  it,  however,  come 
down  from  feudal  days,  a  building  having  stood  on  the 
spot  as  early  as  the  Tenth  Century.  Somewhat  back 

—  137  — 


World  War  from  the  village  street  and  just  outside  the  great  arched 

At  Its  gateway  of  Radinghem  Castle  is  a  quaint  little  Catholic 

Climax  Church  in  the  middle  of  a  quainter  cemetery,  both  of 

fe    which  look  centuries  old. 

*  Rich-toned  silver  bells  at  matins  and  vesper  time  awoke 
memories  of  pre-war  days  when  peace  and  happiness 
reigned  among  these  simple  people,  who  today  were 
being  summoned  to  morning  and  evening  prayer,  the 
burden  of  which  was  that  war  might  soon  end.  Nestling 
in  a  picturesque,  peaceful  valley,  prior  to  Nineteen  Hun- 
dred Fourteen,  pastoral  inhabitants  of  Radinghem 
settlement  never  dreamed  that  war  offices  would  one 
day  be  established  in  the  historic  old  castle. 
Several  weeks  before  our  arrival  at  Radinghem,  Hinden- 
burg  had  been  forced  to  pick  up  his  line  and  move  it 
back  toward  Berlin.  Sir  Douglas  Haig,  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  British  armies,  eager  to  keep  in  as  close 
communication  with  Hindenburg  as  possible,  turned 
Radinghem  Castle  over  to  his  government  and,  following 
Hindenburg  eastward,  established  his  headquarters  in  a 
similar  castle  twenty  miles  away.  The  British  govern- 
ment decided  to  use  the  castle  for  Americans  who,  for 
one  reason  or  another,  had  official  business  in  the 
locality.  General  Haig  left  behind  him,  in  charge,  an 
excellent  corps  of  chefs  and  other  servants  under  several 
of  his  aides.  From  here  our  party  was  to  sally  to  battle 
fronts  in  Belgium  and  France,  leaving  in  the  early 
morning  in  a  train  of  automobiles,  owned  by  English 
generals  and  driven  by  British  soldiers,  and  returning 
late  at  night  after  a  strenuous  two  hundred  or  two  hun- 
dred fifty  mile  ride. 


138 


^ 


t«5 


—  » 

-~  -  — 


CHAPTER  XXII 


An  Unique  and  Scientific  Stunt 

Ingenious  Allies  Found  a  way   to   Get  Propaganda    into   German 
Ranks.  Used  Hot  Air  Paper  Balloons. 

N  what  that  excellent  reporter,  Irvin  S. 
Cobb,  described  so  plainly  as  the  slam- 
ming and  banging  of  war,  the  sword 
seemed  mightier  than  the  pen.  To  a 
publisher  particularly,  cherishing  belief 
in  the  power  of  the  press,  approach  to 
the  front  was  something  of  a  disillu- 
sionment. Somehow  the  front  brought  back  to  one 
Napoleon's  profession  of  faith  in  battalions,  and 
pounded  home  the  fact  that  a  machine-gun  had  its  uses 
that  could  not  be  filled  by  a  typewriter.  If  ever  there 
was  a  "  murder  of  a  lovely  theory  by  a  gang  of  brutal 
facts,"  it  was  in  the  apparent  doing  in  of  the  adage  that 
the  pen  is  mightier  than  the  sword. 
Every  one  recognized,  of  course,  that  the  press  was 
indispensable  in  keeping  up  morale  in  dark  hours,  in 
disseminating  information,  but  stark  facts  ruled  at  the 
front.  It  was  therefore  a  morsel  of  comfort  to  us  to  find 
at  Radinghem  that  the  press  was  in  the  war. 
There  were  bales  of  literature  in  French  and  German  at 
the  castle  ready  for  circulation  in  Germany  and  in  the 
borderland,  where  both  languages  were  used.  The  issues 
included  maps  showing  the  advance  of  the  Allies  and 
carrying  notations  of  German  casualties  and  losses  in 
materials  of  war.  They  comprised  dodgers  with  argu- 
ments likely  to  appeal  to  a  people  breaking  under  the 

—  139  — 


World  War  strain  of  war  with  its  grief,  mental  depression  in  defeat, 

At  Its  disease  and  hunger.  There  were  folders,  fac-similes  of 

Climax  letters   from    Germans,    who    were    prisoners    of    war, 

2    writing  home  to  tell  their  families  that  they  were  well 

*    fed  and  well  treated.  All  these  were  carried  by  balloons 

or  airplanes  for  distribution  in  the  enemy  territory.  It 

was  a  campaign  of  peaceful  penetration  in  the  midst 

of  war  s*  s* 

An  aide  of  General  Haig,  who  showed  us  the  material 
and  explained  the  mechanism  of  this  little-known  phase 
of  the  war,  said  that  the  Intelligence  Department 
reported  unmistakable  signs  of  its  effects.  Although  it 
was  an  offense  carrying  a  death  penalty  for  a  German 
soldier  to  keep  such  literature  picked  up  from  the  enemy, 
it  was  said,  prisoners  brought  in  were  found  to  have 
Allied  prison  camp  menus  concealed  under  their  tunics. 
<I  The  way  this  subtle  ammunition  was  carried  to  the 
enemy  was  scientifically  prepared.  Captive  balloons 
were  let  up  with  their  crews  and  say  a  half  a  ton  of  such 
material,  when  the  winds  were  favorable.  In  the  cargo 
of  the  captive  balloons  were  smaller  paper  balloons,  to 
which  packages  of  the  pamphlets  were  attached.  A 
timeing  device  was  set  so  that  the  print  paper  would  be 
dropped  after  the  smaller  balloons  had  been  in  the  air  a 
definite  time.  The  drift  of  the  wind  was  calculated  so 
that  the  propaganda  would  reach  the  particular  locality 
for  which  it  was  designed  before  it  dropped. 
High  lights  in  campaigns  of  this  sort  were  the  subject  of 
press  correspondence  in  wartime,  as  when  D'Annunzio 
flew  over  Vienna  and  bombarded  the  Austrian  capital 
with  his  own  writings  on  the  war.  There  was  dogged- 
does-it  daily  work  of  the  sort,  however,  that  passed 
without  mention. 

On  the  American  front,  a  principal  argument  used  in  the 
communications  to  the  enemy  was  that  Americans  fed 

—  140  — 


their  prisoners  well.  It  was  to  combat  enemy  propa- 
ganda that  prisoners  were  tortured. 
The  French,  with  Latin  subtlety,  released  anonymous 
writings,  purporting  to  be  by  French  Socialists,  calling 
upon  their  German  comrades  to  drop  their  arms  and 
stop  the  senseless  slaughter  of  workmen  by  workmen  at 
the  behest  of  "  their  masters." 

British  bluntness  marks  the  samples  of  the  British  air- 
press.  "  By  Balloon  "  is  printed  in  English  on  top  of  the 
front  page  of  many  of  the  specimens  before  me  as  I 
write.  Below  the  legend  the  same  routing  is  printed  in 
German,  "  Durch  Luftballon." 

One  interesting  dodger  in  the  souvenir  collection  is  a 
sheet  with  a  cartoon  on  one  page,  and  the  reverse  blank. 
The  cartoon  is  captioned,  "  DieErste  Million."  In  the 
foreground,  climbing  up  a  slope  lettered  "  Frankreich  ' 
is  a  heroic-sized  American  soldier  carrying  the  colors, 
and  behind  him  stretching  from  pictured  France  back 
to  New  York  and  the  Statue  of  Liberty  in  the  back- 
ground are  phalanxes  of  troops,  the  first  million  arriving 
in  France  on  the  bridge  of  ships.  The  soldier  would 
quarrel  with  the  cartoon  which  shows  him  carrying  his 
ammunition  belt  slung  like  a  bandolier,  and  the  artist 
might  criticise  the  execution,  but  the  idea  is  plain  and 
the  Germans  got  it. 

Even  the  well-oiled  German  propaganda  machine  could 
not  erase  that  picture  from  the  minds  of  the  German 
people  once  they  had  seen  it.  Whatever  they  might  mis- 
take in  it,  they  could  not  mistake  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
the  men  behind  it,  and  the  goddess  of  Liberty  toward 
whom  millions  of  them  had  strained  their  eyes  in  the 
past  $&■  so 

Titles  of  other  communications  among  the  specimens 
are  interesting  in  their  suggestiveness.  One  is  "  Langsamer 
which   even   to   one   unacquainted    with 
—  141  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 


Hungertod 


World  War  German  conveys  some  of  its  harsh  meaning  of  slow  death 

At  Its  by  starvation.  Another  title  with  a  special  appeal  to  the 

Climax  P^osophical  German  is      The  Future  of  Germany — 

i    Freedom  or  Militarism ?" 

•  The  enemy  did  not  let  the  attack  of  the  Allied  press  go 
unchallenged.  They  issued  counter-offensive  propa- 
iida.  circulated  by  small,  colored-paper  balloons,  which 
were  shot  down  by  American  snipers  and  forwarded  to  the 
Intelligence  Department  after  souvenir  hunters  had 
obtained  their  copies  hot  from  the  press.  American 
veterans  recall  their  anticipation  of  the  weekly  arrival 
of  "  The  American  in  France.*" 

"  The  American  in  France  "  was  published  in  English 
at  Strasbourg,  according  to  information  in  its 
columns  &•»  &•> 

Its  earlier  issues  were  on  heavy  gloss  paper.  All  were 
well  prepared.  The  columns  contained  numerous  adver- 
tisements of  beer  gardens,  theaters  and  amusement 
places  behind  the  German  lines,  the  German  idea  of  an 
invitation  to  the  Yankee-  to  go  across  and  be  comfort- 
able i-&  ;-& 

The  photographic  reproduction-  in  the  publication  were 
executed  beautifully.  Some  of  them  were  of  cuts  from 
English  publications  issued  in  Civil  War  times.  Others 
were  of  American  soldiers  who  were  prisoner-  in  Ger- 
many. A  favorite  grouping  was  of  a  dozen  or  more 
apparently  intact  Yankees  sitting  in  a  beer  garden  with 
musical  instruments  in  hand  and  steins  on  the  tables. 
proving  something  about  good  fellow-  getting  together, 
perhaps.  Study  of  the  photographed  faces  of  the 
Americans  showed  in  every  instance  that  at  least  one 
in  the  group  was  glowering. 

The  object  of  the  old  English  cuts  was  to  -how  that 
England  had  tried  to  aid  in  dismemberment  of  the 
Union.  That  was  the  appeal  one  week.  Tluj  next  week 

—  142  — 


it  was  to  Irish-Americans  among  the  troop-  to  remem-  World  War 

ber  Ireland.  At  Its 

To  the  student  of  the  methods  and  effects  of  publica-  Climax 

tion  there  always  appeared  some  Haw  in  the  German    * 
method  of  argument.  A  logical  set  of  premises  would  be 
built  up  and  an  oblique  conclusion  drawn.  For  instance, 
it    was    argued:     England     and     Ireland     never     got 
along  £••  :♦ 

Britain  has  oppressed  Ireland.  Irishmen  have  hated 
Britons  for  centuries.  Germany  hated  England.  There- 
fore children  and  grandchildren  of  Irishmen  and  Irish 
women  should  join  Bergdoll. 

Reflections  on  the  foregoing  make  a  publisher  think  that 
maybe  the  English  language  press  amounted  to  more 
than  a  little  in  the  war.  Not  only  were  the  newspapers 
of  the  air  working,  but  there  were  such  publications  as 
"  La  Libre  Belae."  one  of  the  most  gallant  ventures  in 
newspaper  history.  All  the  world  knows  how  that 
impish  sheet  pestered  the  German  occupant s  of  Belgium 
with  the  reminder  that  possession  may  be  nine-tenths 
of  the  law.  but  that  there  is  another  tenth  compounded 
out  of  human  genius,  spirit,  and  gumption  that  a  man 
keeps  no  matter  how  down  he  is.  a  tenth  that  keeps  him 
from  going  out. 

William  Allen  White,  the  seasoned  Kansas  publisher. 
in  similar  recollections  of  mildlv  martial  adventures. 
commented  on  the  unreality  of  it  all  in  France. 
Henrv  and  he.  he  wrote  in  effect,  referring'  to  Governor 
Allen,  of  Kansas,  should  have  been  home  waiting  for 
four  o'clock  to  arrive  and  the  call  to  play  golf  to  come 
to  end  the  daily  battle  of  business  with  paper  manu- 
facturers and  advertisers.  Yet  there  they  were  in 
France  ^  .^ 

C  So  were  we,  like  the  old  classical  poet,  a  part  of  the 
things  of  which  we  tell,  and  among  the  most  pleasant 

—  148  — 


World  War  of  them  the  experience  at  Radinghem  in  learning  that 

At  Its  f°°d  did  n't  win  the  war,  tanks  did  n't  win  the  war, 

Climax  Thrift  stamps  and  Liberty  bonds  did  n't  win  the  war, 

g    peach  pits  did  n't  win  the  war,  nor  knitting  needles,  nor 

"    chocolates,  nor  cigarettes,  any  of  them  alone,  but  the 

boys  and  all  of  us,  and  the  press  doing  its  bit. 


144 


CHAPTER  XXIII 


Over  the  Top  into  No-Man's-Land 

Publishers  Get  into  New  War  Zone  with  all  the  Trappings  of  War 
— War  While  Yet  Seen  in  its  Terrible  Reality. 

[UN  up  Tuesday  morning,  October 
Twenty-second,  found  the  ambitious 
editors  astir  and,  in  war  parlance, 
eager  to  "  go  over  the  top."  An  aide  to 
General  Haig  told  of  the  dangers  we 
were  about  to  meet  and  in  the  great 
5  hall  of  the  castle  put  us  through  a  drill 
in  the  use  of  gas  masks,  especially  as  to  putting  them 
on  properly  and  quickly.  Having  mastered  this  knack, 
we  were  put  in  a  gas  chamber  for  three  minutes  to  try 
out  the  masks  issued  to  us  and  to  satisfy  ourselves  they 
were  working  properly.  If  a  smell  of  gas  was  detected  we 
were  to  notify  our  instructor,  who  was  in  the  house  with 
us,  and  we  should  be  taken  out  of  the  darkened  house 
into  the  open  air  immediately.  Next  we  received  steel 
helmets  and  were  told  we  must  love  and  cherish  our  tin 
hats  and  canvas  false  faces,  ready  to  don  them  at  an  in- 
stant's warning.  As  we  afterward  saw,  in  danger  zones, 
where  gas  shells  might  fall  at  any  time,  were  sign  boards 
notifying  the  wayfarer  he  must  put  on  his  mask.  Our  part- 
ing instruction  in  the  headgear  and  mask  drill  was  that 
when  we  started  for  the  active  fighting  front  we  must 
not  kick  an  object  of  any  kind  on  road  or  in  field  for 
fear  it  would  explode.  Nor  must  we  pick  up  a  wire  or 
cord  or  string  which  might  be  attached  to  a  bomb. 
At  nine  thirty  A.  M.,  on  October  Twenty-second,  in  six 

—  145  — 


World  War  headquarters' automobiles  under  escort  of  a  half  dozen 

At  Its  British  officers  and  with  hideous  headgear  and  masks, 

C    m\x  we  started  for  Bethune,  Givenchy,  Armentieres,  Balleul, 

\    Hazebrouck  and  Aire.  At  Fruges,  first  sizable  town,  we 

'    encountered  a  funeral  described  elsewhere.  Women,  old 

men  and  children  worked  in  fields  and  on  road.  Work 

horses  were  driven  mostly  by  children.  Vehicles  were 

for  the  most  part  two-wheeled  carts  drawn  by  a  single 

horse.  Wheels  of  carts  were  high  in  contrast  to  wheels  of 

wagons  which  were  as  small  as  the  cart  wheels  were  big. 

<I  At  St.  Pol,  a  good  sized  town,  we  came  upon  the  first 

glimpse  of  destruction  by  German  guns  or  bombers. 

The  entire  front  of  what  had  been  a  great  cathedral  lay 

partly  across  our  path,  no  effort  having  been  made  to 

clear  away  the  wreckage.  The  church  had  been  hit  by  a 

German  air  raider. 

Through  Briey  we  went  next,  a  large  coal-mining  center 
from  which  France  was  getting  most  of  its  supply  of 
coal,  other  mines  of  France  being  at  the  time  in  the 
hands  of  the  Germans.  Although  not  far  distant  from 
the  Hindenburg  line  the  town  was  orderly  and  pros- 
perous, no  other  place  in  France  as  near  the  fighting 
line  having  been  spared  visits  from  night  bombers  or 
guns.  Perhaps  the  ulterior  motive  of  the  Germans  in 
sparing  Briey  was  that  later  on  they  might  be  able  to 
use  the  mines,  as  they  had  so  many  north  of  there. 
After  Briey  came  abrupt  transition  from  scenes  of  peace 
to  desolation  of  war.  Barbed  wire  entanglements  were 
everywhere,  a  perfect  wilderness  of  this  most  vicious 
device  to  protect  on  one  hand  and  to  torture  on  the 
other.  There  were  trenches  and  dugouts,  which  had 
been  stubbornly  occupied,  although  trees  all  around  had 
been  shot  into  splinters.  It  had  been  a  difficult  matter, 
we  were  told,  to  put  up  barbed  wire  entanglements,  as 
wooden  poles  had  to  be  driven  into  the  ground  with  a 

—  146  — 


sledge  hammer,  which,  as  work  was  done  stealthily  at  World  War 
night,  aroused  the  enemy  and  interrupted  the  work.  At  Its 
Some  inventive  genius,  however,  brought  out  a  machine  Climax 
whose  capacity  equaled  that  of  an  immense  number  of    g 
men,  and  iron  tubing  was  used  instead  of  wooden  posts    " 
or  stakes,  and  like  the  celebrated   devil's   bridge,   acres 
of   barbed    wire   entanglements   appeared   over   night. 
In  all  this  dismal  territory  there  were  no  signs  of  life. 
Destruction  completed,  the  Germans  had  been  driven 
back.  Companies  of  soldiers  going  into  fight  or  coming- 
out  to  rest  billets  were  met  frequently  plodding  along 
badly  shot  roads  or  riding  in  lorries,  as  auto  trucks  were 
called  s©>  si> 

Bethune,  a  town  of  considerable  size,  was  under  fire 
fiercely  in  the  years  Nineteen  Hundred  Fourteen  and 
Fifteen  and  early  Nineteen  Hundred  Sixteen.  The  town 
was  an  utter  wreck,  yet  cellars  and  half-destroyed  build- 
ings were  inhabited  by  tenants  who  had  stuck  it  out 
through  all  the  fearful  agonies  of  the  long  days  and 
nights,  or  had  returned  because  no  better  place  could 
be  found  in  which  to  exist. 


147 


CHAPTER  XXIV 


Moat  Farm 

Like  Gallant  Six  Hundred  at  Balaklava  Allied  Twenty  Eight  are 
Among  the  Immortals — Need  no  Other  Monument  Than  That 
Under  which  they  Lie  Buried. 

OAT  FARM  at  Givenchy  or  Windy 
Corner  on  the  borderland  between 
Northeastern  France  and  Belgium  de- 
serves to  go  into  history  as  a  scene  of 
battle  as  tragic  as  that  of  Balaklava, 
which  Tennyson  in  his  great  epic  poem, 
"  The  Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade," 
has  immortalized.  A  different  method  of  warfare,  how- 
ever, as  cannon  and  gun  and  sabre  and  horse  were  sup- 
planted by  bomb  and  shell  and  shrapnel  and  tank  and 
airplane.  Twenty-eight  men  in  a  circular,  concrete  fort 
or  huge  turret  or  pill  box,  as  it  was  generally  called,  were 
equipped  with  every  known  kind  of  modern  fighting 
paraphernalia.  For  months  the  pill  box  had  withstood 
the  terrific  onslaught  of  the  Hun  with  the  same  stub- 
born, fiery  spirit  that  possessed  the  noble  six  hundred 
who  rode  "  Into  the  jaws  of  death,  into  the  mouth  of 
hell."  s^  s* 

A  huge  shell  bursting  upon  the  roof  carried  it  to  the 
basement,  together  with  hundreds  of  tons  of  concrete 
beneath  which  twenty -four  of  the  valiant  twenty -eight 
men  were  buried.  For  four  days  the  gallant  four  sur- 
vivors withstood  every  attack  of  the  Germans,  keeping 
up  a  continuous  fusillade  until  the  enemy,  not  knowing 

—  149  — 


? 


World  War  what  awful  damage  he  had  done  and  thinking  from  the 
At  Its  rapid  and  incessant  replies  he  had  received  that  the 
Climax  ^or^  was  s^  manned  by  a  full  company,  withdrew  in 
dismay  £•»  s«* 

When  rescued  it  was  found  that  the  four  survivors  had 
clung  to  the  galleries  around  the  inside  of  the  fort  and 
kept  the  guns,  which  had  not  been  misplaced  by  the  fall 
of  the  inside  of  the  fort,  hot  every  minute  day  and  night, 
to  give  the  enemy  the  impression  of  great  strength. 
Ammunition  was  almost  entirely  gone  when  the  Ger- 
mans gave  up  the  fight. 

The  Boche  had  broken  the  British  line  and  might  have 
swept  on  to  the  English  channel,  but  he  did  n't  know  it. 
<l  Should  it  ultimately  be  decided  to  remove  the  twenty- 
four  bodies  from  beneath  the  mass  of  concrete  at  Moat 
Farm,  it  was  our  thought  that  the  ruin  should  be  left 
as  it  is,  or  was,  and  across  its  face  an  immense  tablet 
placed,  upon  which  should  appear  the  names  and  heroic 
deeds  of  the  noble  twenty-eight  to  whom  Tennyson's 
lines  to  his  gallant  six  hundred — 

Theirs  not  to  make  reply, 
Theirs  not  to  reason  why, 
Theirs  but  to  do  and  die, 

apply  here  equally  as  well  as  to  those  for  whom  they 
were  written. 

And  into  my  mind  came  the  words  of  the  lamented 
Roosevelt,  who,  when  asked  if  he  would  remove  to 
America  the  body  of  his  son  Quentin,  shot  down  after 
desperate  aerial  battle  with  three  Boche  whom  he 
might  have  avoided,  replied:  ':  You  can  not  bring  them 
up  to  be  eagles  and  expect  them  to  die  like  sparrows. 
My  own  choice  is  that  a  soldier,  like  a  tree,  should  lie 
where  he  falls!  " 

And  Quentin  Roosevelt  sleeps  where  he  fell,  his  wrecked 

—  150  — 


airplane   marking  his   grave   in   Eastern   France.   Our  World  War 
party  grieved  not  to  be  able  to  find  it  and  drop  a  tear  At  Its 
and  a  flower.  But  the  young  hero  is  neither  forgotten  cLIMAX 
nor  neglected.   He  is  still  alive  in  the  hearts  of  the 
Allies  and  they,  and  admiring  Americans  abroad,  will 
eternally  cover  his  grave  with  tears  and  flowers  and 
wreaths  so  so 


—  151 


CHAPTER  XXV 


Windy  Corner 


One  of  the  Most  Repellent  Battle  Fields  in  the  War — Literally  a 
Swamp  in  which  American  Boys  Slept  and  on  which  They 
Fought. 

[INDY  CORNER  and  Givenchy  had  a 
strong  lure  for  me,  as  the  section  is  a 
part  of  Flanders  fields  and  also  because 
it  is  in  the  Ypres  sector,  where,  as  I 
afterward  learned,  mv  son  first  "  went 
over  the  top."  To  those  of  us  who  have 
been  permitted  to  see  these  dismal 
swamps  and  water-holes,  in  which  trenches  and  dug- 
outs were  impossible,  the  wonder  is  how  men  lived  and 
fought  under  such  horrible  conditions.  Truth  is  they 
did  n't;  they  died  in  vast  numbers  in  the  terrific  cam- 
paign at  this  point.  Men  were  forced  to  roll  up  their 
equipment  and,  placing  it  under  their  heads  as  pillows, 
lie  down  in  these  sloughs  to  sleep.  Sentinels  walked 
among  them  to  see  that  their  comrades,  in  their  ex- 
hausted state,  did  not,  while  sleeping,  sink  into  the  mire 
and  smother.  Major  Furry  Ferguson  Montague,  repre- 
senting the  British  Ministry  of  Information,  our  guide 
on  this  trip,  who  had  fought  desperately  at  this  point 
and  been  decorated  for  bravery,  interestingly  explained 
the  story  of  the  Rattle  of  Windy  Corner. 
Givenchy  on  the  La  Bassee  canal  in  the  heart  of  the 
fighting  zone  of  the  Ypres  sector  was  our  main  objective. 
Here  was  the  original  Windy  Corner,  the  Tommy's 
'  shor'cut  to  'ell,"  a  cross  roads  that  had  been  con- 

—  153  — 


World  War  stantly  under  German  fire.  Here,  too,  was  the  famous 
At  Its  Moat  Farm  where  the  tide  of  battle  raged  fiercest  in  the 
Climax  £reat  offensive  in  the  spring  of  that  year,  where  General 
C    Haig    sent    his    famous    message,     '  For  God's    sake, 
'     America,  hurry !  WTe  're  fighting  with  our  backs  to  the 
wall!  " — where  General  Haig  in  desperation  put  into 
action  the  Thirtieth  Division  raised  in  our  Southern 
States,  and  our  own  New  York  Twenty-seventh  Division, 
the  only  American  troops  brigaded  with  the  British  in 
northeastern  France  and  Belgium.  And  there,  as  I  sub- 
sequently learned,  my  own  son,  a  member  of  the  One 
Hundred    Fourth    Machine    Gun    battalion,    Twenty- 
seventh  division,  had  gone  over  the  top  and  received 
his  baptism  of  fire,  where  the  Germans  in  their  march 
to  the   English  channel  had  broken  down  the  Allied 
defense,  but  did  n't  know  it.  Four  years  of  fighting  in 
this  sector  had  been  so  stubborn  that  the  line  had  not 
varied  four  miles  in  all  that  time. 

Over  a  gentle  slope  about  a  half  mile  from  the  historic 
Moat  Farm  is  all  that  is  left  of  Givenchy.  It  had  a 
church,  business  places  and  other  buildings,  but  all 
was  gone.  All  about  was  bleakness  and  ruin.  A  sombre 
padre  was  digging  with  a  spade  in  the  wreckage  of  a 
church.  We  were  told  that  when  the  storm  of  fire  and 
gas  and  shell  broke  over  the  unfortunate  community, 
several  years  before,  his  parishioners,  flying  before  the 
wrath  of  the  Germans,  gave  their  little  treasures,  orna- 
ments, jewels  and  so  on  to  the  padre,  who  would  not 
desert  his  church  and  they  were  buried  by  him  where 
he  believed  they  would  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
Germans.  Now  he  was  back  to  recover  them. 
It  was  of  this  sector,  too,  that  Lieut. -Colonel  John 
McCrea  of  Toronto,  wrote  his  immortal  poem,  "  In 
Flanders  Fields."  Both  faith  and  pathos  lie  in  the  story. 
Lieut. -Colonel  McCrea  was  killed   in  battle  and  now 

—  154  — 


sleeps  beneath   the  poppies  about  which  he  wrote  so  World  War 
beautifully  in  the  following  stanzas:  At  Its 

Climax 


IN  FLANDERS  FIELDS 

In  Flanders  fields  the  poppies  blow 
Between  the  Crosses,  row  on  row. 
That  mark  our  place;  and  in  the  sky 
The  larks  still  bravely  singing  fly, 
Scarce  heard  amid  the  guns  below. 

We  are  the  dead. 

Short  days  ago  we  lived,  felt  dawn,  saw 

sunset  glow, 
Loved  and  were  loved,  and  now  we  lie 
In  Flanders  fields. 

Take  up  our  quarrel  with  the  foe. 
To  you  from  falling  hands  we  throw  the  torch- 
Be  yours  to  hold  it  high; 
If  ye  break  faith  with  us  who  die. 
We  shall  not  sleep,  though  poppies  grow 
In  Flanders  fields. 


t 


155  — 


CHAPTER  XXVI 


Huge  Out -Door  Tank  Hospital 

Interestingly    Unique   System,   of  Camouflaging — Screens  Made  to 
Resemble  Tall  Rows  of  Trees  with  Dying  Leaves  of  Autumn. 

FEW  miles  from  Radinghem  on  our 
second  day  out,  our  route  took  us 
through  the  small  village  of  Ems.  It 
was  headquarters  for  repairing  bomb- 
ing tanks  of  Allied  forces.  There  was  a 
solid  fiftv  acres  of  these  Frankensteins 
in  all  stages  of  disrepair.  Hundreds 
were  beyond  repair.  In  the  immense  shops  seventy -five 
hundred  men  worked.  Many  were  Chinese.  It  was  said 
they  were  expert  mechanics,  quickly  trained  to  the 
need  of  the  hour.  These  immense  shops  were  in  charge 
of  two  young  Brazilians,  graduated  from  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, who  had  volunteered  into  the  British  service 
in  Nineteen  Hundred  Fifteen.  Chinese,  they  declared, 
were  excellent  workmen  if  clearly  shown  in  the  begin- 
ning just  how  to  do  things.  They  had  no  initiative,  how- 
ever, their  chiefs  said,  and  when  once  taught  would 
always  follow  in  the  same  way.  It  was  impossible  to 
"  unteach  "  them. 

There  were  miles  of  railroad  tracks  in  the  grounds,  and 
tanks  were  shipped  in  and  out  on  low  platform  cars 
built  especially  for  this  purpose. 

We  were  all  intensely  interested  to  see  here  also  an  army 
of  Chinese  working  in  an  immense  building  upon  a 
unique  scheme  of  camouflage.  It  was  autumn.  Along 

—  157  — 


World  War  French  roads  at  fighting  fronts  on  the  side  toward  the 
At  Its  moving  German  army,  miles  of  screens  were  put  up  on 
Climax  P°^es  resembling  hop  poles.  Behind  this  perfect  camou- 
flage Allied  armies  stealthily  moved,  unobserved  by  the 
enemy.  Gun  carriages  and  other  fighting  machinery 
were  covered  on  the  top  with  earth  and  sods  to  shut  out 
the  view  of  air  raiders.  Materials  upon  which  these  yel- 
low men  worked  had  been  taken  down  from  roads  at 
the  front  and  were  being  changed  to  match  the  season. 
Bits  of  Canton  flannel  had  hitherto  been  dyed  green  to 
resemble  leaves  of  trees.  Fall  was  now  at  its  height  and 
leaves  on  trees  were  turning  to  gold  and  crimson  and 
pink  and  yellow,  and  so  these  counterfeit  leaves  had 
been  dyed  into  autumnal  hues  and  were  being  sent  out 
to  be  put  up  along  active  roads  in  war  zones. 
The  method  of  erecting  was  that  every  few  hundred 
feet,  bunches  of  these  mock  leaves  were  placed  so  as  to 
give  the  appearance  of  trees  covered  with  dying  foliage. 
Stretches  between  these  apparent  trees  were  filled  with 
a  colorless  background  cloth  which  did  not  stand  out  in 
the  atmosphere  but  which  served  successfully  to  hide 
everything  going  on  behind  it.  In  the  Ypres  sector  in 
and  about  Windy  Corner  we  saw  many  miles  of  this 
sort  of  stuff  to  fool  the  enemy. 

Before  leaving  home  I  had  been  told  of  train  after  train 
being  rushed  across  Canada.  A  few  who  had  been  per- 
mitted to  go  inside  these  secret  trains  said  they  con- 
tained Chinese.  Before  our  party  went  abroad  it  learned 
that  two  hundred  thousand  Chinese  had  crossed  Canada 
from  Vancouver  and  were  sent  to  France  to  do  all 
manner  of  work  behind  the  lines.  It  was  in  this  way,  no 
doubt,  that  the  shops  we  saw,  and  many  others  not 
already  run  by  women  were  brought  up  to  full  capacity, 
all  able-bodied  men  of  France  capable  of  taking  up  arms 
being  at  the  front. 

—  158  — 


CHAPTER  XXVII 


Lille 

Up  to  Armistice  Day  the  Scene  Here  Was  the  Most  Joyous  One  in 
Our  Whole  Journey — Sights  That  Brought  Tears  to  the  Eyes  of 
Some  of  Us. 

ILLE!  What  a  world  of  memories  that 
word  of  five  letters  awakes  to  us !  Three 
days  after  the  German  hordes  marched 
out,  after  four  long  and  weary  years, 
our  Editorial  band  marched  in.  It  was 
a  day  of  unbounded  joy  and  triumph 
in  this,  next  to  Paris,  largest  city  in 
France.  From  roof  to  cellar  bunting  and  French, 
British,  Italian,  American  and  other  Allied  flags  had 
been  unfurled.  Nowhere  had  we  ever  seen  decorations 
so  varied  and  profuse.  In  our  minds  it  is  an  ineffaceable 
picture.  It  seemed  as  though  all  the  inhabitants  were 
in  the  streets,  too  overjoyed  to  think  of  anything  but 
their  own  deliverance.  They  had  heard  that  a  party  of 
American  editors  were  coming  to  town,  and  in  a  little 
suburb  before  we  reached  the  city,  buildings  had  been 
placarded  with  the  words  "  Welcome  to  Our  Deliverers." 
The  editors  could  not  understand  what  they  had  to  do 
with  it.  Then  we  learned  the  greetings  were  intended 
for  British  and  American  troops  who  three  days  agone 
had  entered  the  city  and  driven  out  the  Boche. 
Lille  was  the  only  place  evacuated  by  the  Germans 
without  first  having  destroyed  it.  President  Wilson  had 
told  Kaiser  Wilhelm   it   would  be  futile  to  plead  for 

—  159  — 


World  War  interference  on  America's  part  until  he  stopped  destroy - 
At  Its  m&    property,    killing    children    and    old    people    and 
Climax  debauching  women.  These  things  Germany  promised. 
&    They  blew  up  Lille's  great  bridges',  but  this  is  permis- 
*     sible  in  warfare  as  a  military  necessity,  the  retreating 
army  being  licensed  to  do  acts  intended  to  prevent  suc- 
cessful pursuit. 

In  the  great  plaza  in  the  center  of  the  city  where  we 
stopped  to  view  the  joyous  sights,  our  cars  were  sur- 
rounded by  thousands  of  excited,  in  some  instances, 
almost  hysterical  people,  insisting  upon  telling  us  the 
awful  story  of  their  four  years  of  German  thraldom. 
As  they  spoke  French,  Edward  H.  Butler  of  The  News, 
Buffalo,  who  speaks  French  like  a  native,  acted  as  our 
interpreter.  They  told  us  that  the  Hun  had  bled  the 
city  of  all  able-bodied  men,  sent  them  to  Germany 
and  forced  them  to  work  for  the  German  government; 
that  they  had  carried  off  five  thousand  young  girls  with 
whom  they  had  lived;  that  if  a  girl  was  good-looking 
she  had  her  choice  of  working  twelve  or  fourteen  hours  a 
day  in  the  fields  or  living  in  ease  with  a  German  officer. 
People  with  hand  carts,  and  in  a  few  instances,  with 
wagons  containing  all  manner  of  household  goods,  were 
hurrying  about  moving  back  to  their  old  homes  from 
which  they  were  driven  four  years  before.  On  an  old 
mattress  spread  on  a  pushcart,  I  saw  a  feeble  old  woman 
and  at  her  side  a  young  woman  apparently  very,  very 
ill,  being  propelled  through  the  principal  street  by  a 
boy  of  perhaps  fifteen  years.  Mother,  daughter  and  son ! 
It  was  sad,  but  this  was  by  far  the  most  wonderful,  the 
most  joyous  day  we  had  seen  and  forced  tears  into  our 
eyes.  '  Utterly  indescribable;  words  fail,"  we  said 
in  unison. 

Lille  is  a  fortified  or  walled  city  of  ancient  type  and  is 
crossed   by   the   Douai  canal   and   is   one  of   France's 

—  160  — 


most  prosperous  sections.   Living  was  almost   impos-  World  War 

sible.  The  Germans  forced  many  factories  and  mer-  At  Its 

chants  to  continue  and  then  took  the  income  away  CLIMAX 

with  them. 

Through  many  a  ruined  town  in  that  day's  trip  we 

passed.  Lille  was  an  outstanding  oasis  in  a  desert  of 

devastation  and  destruction.  Lille  is  more  than  twice 

the  size  of  Syracuse.  Had  the  Hun  treated  Lille  as  he 

had  other  cities  he  had  occupied,  it  would  be  not  at 

all  inappropriate  to  inquire  what  would   be   the   state 

of  mind   of  Syraeusans  if  some  morning  they  awoke 

to  find  not  a  brick  upon  a  brick,  the  whole  a  dismal 

heap   of   stone,    brick,    mortar,   iron   and    wood   as   if 

wrecked  by  some  mighty  earthquake. 


—  161  — 


V' 


T3 

to 
8 


a 


s 

B 


VI 


B 
= 

5 


e 

• — 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 


Vimy  Ridge 


The  World's  Bloodiest  Battle  Grounds — More  Killed  Here  Than  on 
Any  Other  Field  of  Carnage.  As  Many  Casualities  of  French 
Alone  as  the  Total  Army  That  Fought  on  Either  Side  in  Our 
War  of  the  Rebellion. 

HE  writer's  current  letter  to  the  Herald 
while  there  best  tells,  so  far  as  he  is  able, 
the  story  of  Vimy  Ridge,  which  had 
been  captured  by  the  Allies  two  weeks 
before  our  party's  arrival.  It  follows: 
"  Vimy  Ridge  marked  the  crest  of  Ger- 
man endeavor  in  the  bloody  and  bit- 
terly contested  region  between  Lens,  which  the  Germans 
took  and  held,  and  Arras,  which  the  Allies  had  and 
held.  It  is  a  sloping  eminence  of  noble  contour  rising 
from  the  prevailing  plains  of  Central  France.  The 
ridge  proper  extends  for  six  or  eight  miles  along  the 
slope,  and  is  probably  two  or  three  miles  in  its  widest 
dimension.  It  is  n't  much  of  a  hill,  as  hills  go  in  America, 
but  it  has  distinct  topographical  proportions  and  is 
a  natural  defensive  position. 

'  It  is  the  graveyard  of  many  valiant  soldiers, 
on  both  sides,  and  it  is,  too,  the  graveyard  of  any  hope 
the  Germans  ever  had  of  an  advance  on  the  middle 
British  front.  The  French  lost  it  early  in  the  war,  and 
laid  long  and  determined  siege  to  it.  It  is  said  that  the 
total  number  of  French  casualities  in  the  futile  attack 
at  Vimy  were  215,000.  The  vast  number  of  French 

— 163  — 


World  War  graves  in  the  area  behind  Vimy  prove  that  the  losses 
At  Its  were  great.  There  are  Canadian  and  British  graves, 
Climax  ^°°'  father  up  the  rise. 

^    "  The    Canadians    took  Vimy  in  the  spring    of    1917. 

*  They  took  it  at  a  great  cost,  but  they  took  it.  They 
had  moved  in  about  October,  1916,  after  their  great 
exploit  at  Passchaendale.  The  British  had  failed  there, 
and  so  had  the  Australians;  but  the  Canadians  did 
not  fail.  It  was  their  superior  strategy,  perhaps.  They 
made  a  feint  in  one  direction,  and  engaged  the  enemy 
there  and  then  suddenly  shifted  to  the  Boche  flank 
and  had  him. 

"  The  Canadians  modestly  say  that  they  had  better  luck 
at  Passchaendale  than  the  others,  for  the  British  and 
Australians  are  fine  soldiers,  none  better.  The  Aus- 
tralians admit  it  always.  It  was  said  in  France  that 
they  say  the  Americans  often  fight  as  well  as  they  do. 
Higher  praise  could  hardly  be  given ! 
;  The  Canadian  corps  was  sent  from  Passchaendale  to 
Vimy  and  began  the  long  preparation  for  the  surprise 
assault  in  the  spring.  There  was  a  lot  of  tunnelling  and 
mines  and  one  morning  there  was  a  grand  explosion, 
and  then  the  Canadians  started  out,  supported  by 
some  Scotch  and  British  troops;  in  a  few  hours  it  was 
over.  The  sapper  had  come  into  his  own. 
"  The  American  Editorial  party  visited  Vimy  only  a 
few  days  after  the  Boche  had  retired  from  firing  range. 
He  had  been  driven  down  into  the  valley  beyond,  but 
continued  to  turn  his  artillery  on  Vimy.  The  Canadian 
and  his  comrades  were  comfortably  quartered,  however, 
in  the  dugouts  and  entrenchments  the  Germans  had 
elaborately  built  during  the  years  of  their  occupation. 
The  German  first  captured  his  hill,  or  hole,  and  then 
proceeded  in  the  most  painstaking  ways  to  make  it 
safe.    His   favorite   abode   of   security   was   a   dugout. 

—  164  — 


Vimy  was  fairly  gophered  with  them,  built  into  the  World  War 
hillside,  often  of  permanent  cement  construction  and  At  Its 
always  with  a  view  to  rendering  the  enemy's  artillery  cLJMAX 
fire  ineffective  by  making  it  possible  and  convenient  to    * 
go  far  underground.  How  a  man  can  live  in  a  dugout    * 
day  in  and  day  out,  for  months  at  a  time,  without 
suffocation  or  insanity  passes  all  comprehension.   But 
they   did   it,   and   probably   thought   themselves   well 
off — so   long   as   they   were   safe.   Did   not   men   exist 
somehow  in  the  Flanders  line   for   months    and   even 
years?  The  dugouts  of  Vimy  were  palaces  of  comfort 
beside  the  waterholes  of  Flanders. 

"  The  approach  to  Vimy  from  the  west  is  by  Mount 
St.  Eloi.  One  may  know  that  it  is  a  mountain  because 
they  call  it  a  mountain.  It  is  a  hill — an  outpost  of 
Vimy — surmounted  by  a  higher  tower.  The  tower 
is  a  landmark  for  miles  around  and  was  long  a  pet 
target  of  long  range  German  fire.  They  hit  it,  too,  but 
did  not  destroy  it.  Then  comes  Vimy.  The  background 
is  a  complicated  and  extensive  system  of  entrenchments 
with  hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  emplace- 
ments for  big  guns,  and  the  customary  trenches  and 
barbed  wire.  If  the  Germans  held  the  Ridge  for  many 
months,  the  Allies  had  the  whole  broad  expanse  of  the 
approach;  and  they  made  life  unbearable  for  their 
foe  above.  He  paid  his  respects  in  his  turn  to  the  men 
below  s«*  s«* 

"  Down  in  a  little  exposed  angle  of  the  Allied  position 
rested  the  little  village  of  Souchet.  They  take  the 
curious  traveler  to  Souchet  even  now  to  show  him  the 
ruthlessness  of  modern  warfare.  There  are  many  larger 
places  than  this  little  town  that  have  been  completely 
wiped  out,  and  although  Souchet  was  among  the 
first  to  go,  its  fame  lingers.  Where  once  was  a  thriving 
little  city  are  now  a  few  crumbling  walls  and  indis- 

—  165  — 


World  War  tinguishable  heaps  of  debris  that  once  were  buildings. 

At  Its  The  grass  had  had  time  to  grow  over  the  ruins  of  former 

Climax  nomes>  and  the  moss  had  begun  to  appear  on  the  walls. 

£    First  there  was  a  ruin,  and  in  its  train  decay.  The 

*    hand  of  time  is  completing  the  wreck  made  by  man. 

<§  "  The  party  was  taken  to  the  top  of  the  Ridge  and  had 

luncheon  there.  It  was  an  excellent  meal,  eaten  with 

relish.  The  fact  is  mentioned  to  show  that  the  mind 

grows  calloused  from  sustained  contact  with  desolation 

and  death.  We  were  in  the  midst  of  ten  thousand  graves 

and  were  the  sole  visible  survivors  of  a  deadly  struggle 

that  had  been  waged  for  fifty  months.  Yet  we  did  not 

fail  to  respond  to  the  demands  of  appetite.  Well,  even 

soldiers  must  eat,  so  why  should  newspaper  men  starve 

themselves?  sn*  so 

'  Some  one  led  the  way  to  the  apex  of  the  Rise,  where 
there  was  a  clear  view  of  the  valley  beyond,  with  a 
white  line  marking  the  German  trenches.  The  feet 
became  constantly  entangled  in  wires  buried  in  the 
grass.  They  were  the  communicating  lines  of  the 
advance  by  the  Canadians.  Every  company  commander, 
when  he  can,  leaves  behind  him  a  line  to  lead  parties. 
There  were  hundreds  of  them.  There  were  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  shells  and  cartridges  and  an  occasional 
helmet.  Generally  the  '  tin  hat '  had  a  dent  in  it.  Its 
tenant  had  thrown  it  away  perhaps,  because  he  could 
not  use  it;  if  there  was  not  a  more  melancholy  reason 
why  he  was  through  with  it. 

"A  low  hum  came  from  the  distant  skies  and  the  tried 
ears  of  the  British  officers  reported  that  there  were 
airplanes  somewhere  around.  Soon  they  appeared.  There 
were  nineteen  of  them,  and  they  were  headed  directly 
for  Vimy  Ridge.  It  might  have  been  the  Boche  but  it 
was  n't.  It  was  a  fleet  of  Allied  fliers  returning  from  some 
kind  of  an  exploit  over  the  German  lines.  They  flew  in 

—  166  — 


V  shape  units  of  six,  in  perfect  formation.  High  above  World  War 
them  in  the  rear  was  a  single  plane,  the  sentinel  and  At  Its 
guard  of  all  the  others.  Where  they  had  been,  or  where  Climax 
they  were  going,  it  was  not  for  the  wondering  spectators    * 
to  know.  But  that  it  was  a  fine  sight  they  could  all    * 
bear  witness." 


167  — 


CHAPTER  XXIX 


St.  Mihiel 

Where  Our  American  Troops  First  Distinguished  Themselves — 
"  Untrained  Yankees  "  Surprised  the  German  Army  by  Their 
Dash  and  Tenacity. 

[HE  traveler  in  the  wake  of  war  may 
view  the  St.  Mihiel  Valley,  its  rolling 
green  sweep,  water-coursing  glades, 
red-decked,  white-walled  farm  build- 
ings and  peaceful  churches  and  wonder 
that  this  scene  has  ever  been  the  drill- 
ground  of  Armageddon.  St.  Mihiel  will 
seem  as  remote  to  such  an  observer  as  the  Battle  of 
Blenheim  to  the  children  who  found  the  skull  and  heard 
their  grandfather's  tale  of  the  famous  victory. 
Here  the  invader  held  France  in  fief  by  force  for  four 
years  until  the  American  army,  operating  as  such  for 
the  first  time  on  French  soil,  drove  out  the  common 
enemy  s+  so 

St.  Mihiel  was  in  the  field  what  Austria  was  in  war 
politics.  The  capitulation  of  Austria  was  the  beginning 
of  the  end,  politically,  and  St.  Mihiel  was  the  beginning 
of  the  end  in  the  field.  It  was  the  privilege  of  the  Ameri- 
can Editorial  party  to  observe  both  debacles  more  closely 
than  would  have  been  possible  otherwise. 
In  this  sector  was  delivered  the  first  all- American  blow 
of  the  World  War.  Here,  too,  is  Seicheprey,  where 
'  untrained  Yankees  '  withstood  the  first  assaults  of 
crack  German  forces  bent  on  terrorizing  the  amateurs 
in  warfare. 

—  169  — 


* 


World  War  Here  was  Mont  Sec,  a  little  Vimy,  where  the  enemy  had 
At  Its  ensconced  himself  and  commanded  all  the  area  around 
Climax  ^or  mues  and  for  years  until  the  Yanks  came,  kept 
coming,   saw,   kept   seeing,   conquered   and   kept  con- 
quering until  the  end. 

A  view  of  twentieth  century  warfare  can  be  at  best 
only  impressionable,  even  to  the  fighting  man  at  the 
front  &—  $+ 

Even  the  reputedly  Argus-eyed  press  could  glimpse 
these  moving  affairs  only  as  a  jig-saw  puzzle.  After  they 
were  history  they  could  be  viewed  as  a  pageant.  From 
the  Vosges  mountains,  from  Toule  and  Luneville,  from 
the  plains  of  France  farther  north  and  from  the  camps, 
billets  and  rest  stations  of  the  center  of  the  embattled 
land,  from  ports  of  the  Atlantic,  from  the  sea  itself,  men 
rose  and  came.  Pack-laden,  pest-ridden,  footsore,  saddle- 
tanned,  dirty,  but  laughing,  cigarette-smoking  and 
swearing  like  boys  out  of  Shakespeare,  they  can  be 
envisioned  trudging  through  rain,  on  roads  for  a  way, 
then  in  mud  to  their  knees,  on  the  way  to  the  front. 
Nights  they  hiked.  Days  they  slept  in  wet  woods, 
within  castle  walls,  in  mines,  wherever  concealment 
from  the  enemy  could  be  had.  The  enemy  sensed  and 
saw  through  scouts  this  mighty  movement  of  apparently 
all  America,  assembling  a  human  battering  ram  for  a 
push  with  the  power  of  a  hundred  million  bodies  and 
souls  behind  it.  But  the  enemy  was  reliably  informed 
from  American  headquarters  that  the  attack  was  set 
for  a  later  date  and  at  another  place. 
Your  doughboy's  big  show,  as  he  called  it,  began  at  one 
o'clock  the  morning  of  September  12,  1918.  A  cataract  of 
steel  and  explosives  descended  on  the  German  lines. 
Not  only  had  men  gone  up  but  animals  and  machines, 
artillery  horses  dragging  gun-carriages  through  mire  to 
the  breeches,  ammunition  wagons,  commissary  trucks, 

—  170  — 


ambulances,  dragged  by  human  muscle  where  brute 
and  fuel  failed.  The  fighting  heart  of  America  was  laid 
bare  in  those  nights  ahead  with  none  to  see  except  those 
who  dog-did-it,  worked  and  fought. 
The  danger  zone  was  a  moving  area  to  the  editors  in  the 
rear-guard,  although  it  was  recommended  that  a  little 
practice  putting  on  gas-masks  was  not  amiss.  Within 
eight  hours  of  the  zero  hour  of  the  early  morning  attack, 
Americans  were  putting  Thiancourt,  Heudricourt,  Pan- 
nes and  Nonsard  on  the  war  map  and  the  cables  where 
they  had  not  been  for  four  years. 

From  a  hill  at  Hattonchatel,  the  distinguished  strangers 
looked  toward  the  promised  land  of  the  American  army. 
Fog  lifted  a  little.  Sun  shone  through  misting  rain.  Afar 
rumbled  the  guns.  Already  it  was  over  like  a  drama 
after  which  one  tries  to  picture  the  actors  going  on 
moving,  living  and  dying  in  character.  The  crash  of 
naval  rifles,  the  biggest  guns  in  France,  brought  over  by 
the  Yanks,  told  Metz,  only  twenty  miles  away,  that  the 
Allies  and  the  Americans  were  coming. 
Overhead  droned  an  airplane,  swooping  back  to  Colom- 
bey  with  its  flushed  warrior  of  the  sky,  fresh  from 
chasing  the  Boche  and  fanning  enemy  ears  with  his 
propeller  &—  b— 

Such  was  St.  Mihiel  to  the  editors.  Graveyards  of  Ger- 
mans, and  roadside,  cross-marked  graves  of  Allies,  were 
passed.  Dug-outs  palatially  furnished,  hidden  in  ruins 
of  dwellings  or  deep  in  concrete  fortifications  were  dis- 
closed, where  the  enemy  had  made  himself  comfortable  in 
carpet  slippers  and  with  pipe  during  his  years  of  tenure. 
Kin  a  little  while,  a  few  weeks,  a  month,  the  heroes  of 
St.  Mihiel  were  fighting  it  through  the  Argonne,  where 
American  correspondents  with  the  troops  described  it 
as  "  hotter  than  the  hinges  of  hell." 
Then  Armistice  and  a  world  gone  mad! 

—  171  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 


CHAPTER  XXX 


Breaking  the   Hindenburg   Line 

General  Rawlinson  Graphically  Tells  Where  the  Gallant  Twenty- 
Seventh  New  York  and  Thirtieth  Southern  Divisions  Went 
Through — Entitled,  the  General  Said,  to  the  Brightest  Page  in 
the  History  of  the  War. 

|IR  HENRY  RAWLINSON,  Com- 
mander of  the  Fourth  British  Army, 
and  the  man  to  whom  Sir  Douglas 
Haig  entrusted  the  attack  on  the 
Hindenburg  line  which,  in  the  smash- 
ing, also  smashed  the  German  morale, 
told  our  party  that  the  battle  at  Guille- 
mont  Farm  and  Bony  will  be  one  of  the  most  splendid 
traditions  of  America  when  the  story  of  it  is  rightly 
written.  A  few  nights  later,  in  Paris,  General  Campbell, 
'  The  Tiger  "  of  England,  with  whom  I  shared  a  box 
in  an  opera-house,  spoke  no  less  enthusiastically  of  the 
valor  of  our  Twenty-seventh  Division  on  that  occasion. 
General  Campbell  was  in  full  field  command  under 
General  Rawlinson  of  the  Fourth  British  Army  and  of 
our  Twenty -seventh  and  the  Thirtieth  Divisions,  both 
of  which  had  fought  as  well  with  the  British  up  in 
Belgium.  And  General  Rawlinson,  showing  us  over  the 
field  had  pointed  out  that  for  two  and  a  half  years  the 
Boche  had  been  building  and  strengthening  this  line 
until  he  firmly  believed  it  proof  against  any  army  in  the 
world  5^  && 

The  Boche  knew  the  vital  nature  of  Guillemont  Farm 
just  as  well  as  we  did.  He  knew  we  had  to  have  it,  and 

—  173  — 


World  War  he  had  exhausted  his  ingenuity  in  trying  to  make  it 

At  Its  impregnable.  Line  after  line  of  trenches  honey -combed 

Climax  ^ne  nn^'  hundreds  of  big  guns  were  trained  on  it;  it  was 

to    literally  covered  with  machine  gun  nests  and  barbed 

*    wire  entanglements.  It  was  mined  and  defended  in  a 

quite  remarkable  way.  It  is  a  fact  that  this  farm  was 

taken  and  re-taken  not  less  than  seven  times  before  we 

finally  held  it. 

General  Rawlinson  continuing  said: 
"  The  first  break  in  the  Hindenburg  line  came  on 
September  27,  1918,  when  the  Forty-sixth  division 
of  the  Fourth  British  Army  crossed  the  St.  Quentin 
canal  at  Bellenglise,  but  the  key  to  that  break  and  to 
the  other  almost  simultaneous  break,  at  the  tremend- 
ously fortified  village  of  Bony,  was  Guillemont  Farm. 
^  '  You  American  correspondents,"  said  General  Raw- 
linson, "  should  not  pass  by  this  place  without  hearing 
what  your  men  did  here,  and  what  it  meant.  That  is 
why  I  brought  you  here.  This  is  where  two  of  your 
American  divisions  fought  splendidly,  and  where  many 
of  them  died.  No  troops  ever  fought  more  valiantly. 
Inexperience  cost  them  more  men  than  they  should  have 
lost,  but  their  courage  and  determination  in  the  face  of 
tremendous  obstacles  was  magnificent.  What  they  did 
here  will  make  the  name  of  Guillemont  Farm  famous  in 
American  history.  It  was  one  of  the  vital  spots  of  the 
war  $**  so 

"As  you  see,  this  farm  is  higher  than  any  of  the  sur- 
rounding ridges  for  miles.  Over  there,  five  miles  away, 
was  the  main  Hindenburg  line  running  through  the  town 
of  Bony,  which  was  a  regular  rabbit  warren  of  concrete, 
Boche  dugouts,  trenches  and  tunnels.  For  two  and  a  half 
years  the  Boche  had  been  building  and  strengthening 
this  line,  and  he  firmly  believed  it  proof  against  any 
army  in  the  world.  This  place  where  we  stand  was  the 

—  174  — 


outpost   of   the  main   line.    When  on   September   26,  World  War 
1918,   the    commander-in-chief    determined    that    the  At  Its 
attack  upon  the  line  was  to  be  made,  our  first  job  was  to  cLIMAX 
take  this  farm  because  this,  as  is  very  easily  seen,  was    * 
the  only  spot  from  which  the  main  line  could  be  effec-    ' 
tively  shelled  at  any  point  where  it  was  not  necessary  to 
cross  the  canal. 

"  Once  your  American  bovs  went  clear  through  and 
over  the  hill,  but  they  failed  to  '  mop  up,'  and  the 
Boche  coining  out  of  his  back  trenches  after  they  had 
passed,  counter-attacked,  retook  the  hill  and  cut  them 
off.  Our  attack  was  begun  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning 
of  September  25, 1918,  with  the  two  American  divisions 
and  the  Australians.  The  French  were  on  our  right. 
The  fight  here  lasted  three  days  and  in  the  end  it 
was  the  tanks  that  carried  the  crest.  Your  troops  had 
to  come  up  these  steep  slopes  from  the  valley  under 
terrific  machine-gun  fire  and  they  behaved  with  the 
utmost  valor.  Knowing  full  well  what  the  loss  of  this 
farm  meant,  the  Boche  defended  it  with  tremendous 
force  and  determination,  and  it  was  only  really  captured 
when  the  tanks  got  into  the  trenches  and  sat  down  on 
the  machine  guns.  With  this  hill  in  our  possession,  we 
gave  the  main  line  a  forty-eight  hour  bombardment,  and 
when  our  infantry  attacked  we  went  through  and  got 
Bonv  $+>  8+> 

"At  the  same  time  the  other  attack  of  the  Forty-sixth 
British  division  succeeded  and  the  St.  Quentin  canal 
was  crossed,  but  that  is  another  story.  What  I  wanted 
you  to  understand  was  the  significance  of  the  Guille- 
mont  Farm  fight  in  the  smashing  of  the  Hindenburg  line, 
and  to  tell  you  of  the  part  the  Americans  played  in  it. 
Every  American  should  know  about  it." 
In  conclusion  the  General  said  :  "  This,  as  I  have  said 
before,   and   I   wish   to   repeat   it,   is   where  your  two 

—  175  — 


World  War  American  divisions  fought  so  splendidly  and  where  sc 

At  Its  many  of  them  died.  No  troops  anywhere  ever  fought 

Climax  more  valiantly.  The  line  was  broken  and  the  Boehe  has 

£    never  been  the  same  Boche  since;  his  confidence  was 

*    shattered."  so*  so 

Then  with  the  General,  we  walked  over  the  terrifically 
torn  field,  churned  and  twisted  by  thousands  of  shells 
while  the  ground  was  still  strewn  with  helmets  and 
equipment  of  American  soldiers,  to  the  two  American 
cemeteries,  where  hundreds  of  American  lads  who  fell 
in  this  fight  that  meant  so  much  to  the  world,  lie  buried, 
their  graves  marked  by  little  wooden  crosses  very  close 
together,  and  tears  coursed  down  the  cheeks  of  the 
General  as  he  expressed  his  profound  sorrow  at  the  mis- 
take made  by  the  Thirtieth  Division  in  which  they 
failed  to  "  mop  up,"  were  cut  off  for  a  time  and  sub- 
jected to  a  terrific  fire  from  German  machine-guns  in 
their  rear  until  rescued  by  the  British  and  our  Twenty - 
seventh  Division. 

It  was  said  at  the  time  of  our  stay  in  Paris  that  the 
Thirtieth  Division  in  the  foregoing  engagement  lost 
eight  thousand  men,  but  such  figures  were  no  doubt 
very  greatly  exaggerated. 


—  176  — 


1  ■  "•'* 


CHAPTER  XXXI 


Two   Editorial  Casualities 

It  is  not  the  Part  of  Wisdom  to  Dispute  the  Right  of  Way  With  a 
Lorry — Gave  the  Injured  a  Glorious  Chance  to  See  the  Inside  of 
Many  Hospitals. 

IFTER  Vimv  came  Lens.  It  had  been  a 
citv  of  fifty  thousand  inhabitants.  Rich 
coal  mines  nearby  made  Lens.  It  was 
for  possession  of  these  the  Boche  held 
on  with  undiminished  tenacity,  paying 
a  frightful  price.  Destruction,  the  most 
complete  we  had  seen,  was  here.  It  was 
not,  however,  the  work  of  Germans  but  of  the  British. 
German  troops,  only  two  weeks  gone,  had  held  it  for 
four  years.  Lens  lay  in  a  natural  bowl  in  the  hills.  For 
eighteen  fierce  months  Allied  troops  had  saturated  this 
bowl  with  deadly  gas,  while  shot  and  shell  levelled  the 
city.  Nowhere  was  to  be  seen  a  brick,  stone  or  stick 
above  cellar  wall.  Grimly  the  phlegmatic  Boche  dug  in, 
lived  like  wharf  rats  and  held  on,  how  the  Lord  alone 
knows.  But  he  did  hold  on.  When  he  left,  a  frightful 
condition  was  revealed.  Cellars  were  filled  with  dead 
whose  burial  was  intercepted  by  the  terrific  bombarding 
to  which  the  place  was  constantly  subjected.  Through 
all  of  this  hideousness  and  ghastliness,  the  Germans 
lived,  if  it  might  be  called  living.  Royal  Engineers  were 
striving  to  make  a  road  through  this  charnel  house.  We 
managed  to  get  through,  but  it  was  rough  going. 
Lens  was  in  a  coal  mining  section,  like  Scranton,  Pa. 
Before  he  left,  the  Boche  pulled  pumps,  flooded  mines, 

—  177  — 


World  War  and  wrecked  machinery.  Estimates  were  that  three  to 
At  Its  f°ur  years  and  big  sums  in  money  and  labor  would  have 
Climax  ^°  ^e  exPended  before  the  mines  could  be  re-opened. 
^  *I  Then  Arras,  where  a  great  cathedral  and  two  famous 
*  hospitals  had  been  destroyed,  was  to  be  visited.  While 
Lens  had  been  taken  by  the  German  army  the  British 
occupied  and  held  Arras.  Under  Arras  are  huge  sub- 
terranean chalk  caverns  just  like  our  American  Scran- 
ton  over  the  coal  tunnels.  In  these  caverns  thousands  of 
British  soldiers  lived.  By  day  they  were  about  the 
streets  of  Arras.  At  nightfall  the  mystified  Boche  from 
airplane  and  other  places  of  observation  could  find  them 
no  more.  They  had  disappeared  completely.  Where,  the 
Boche  did  n't  know.  The  city  was  almost  surrounded  by 
Germans,  and  it  was  a  known  impossibility  for  occu- 
pants to  leave.  But  with  daylight  on  the  following 
morning,  the  vanished  Allies  of  the  preceding  evening 
were  on  the  streets  again  by  the  thousands. 
The  Fates,  however,  decreed  that  Edgar  Bramwell 
Piper,  editor  of  the  Portland  Oregonian,  and  I  should 
not  be  parties  to  an  inspection  of  Arras  with  its  beauti- 
ful old  cathedral  in  ruins.  One  and  a  half  miles  out  of 
Arras  our  chauffeur  attempted  to  pass  a  lorry  at  the 
head  of  a  two  mile  train  of  automobiles  going  in  to 
battle  at  the  front.  Side-swiping  the  front  wheels  of  the 
lorry,  we  ran  in  front  of  it  and  then,  without  hesitation 
or  apparent  reason,  went  afield  and  slammed  head  on 
into  a  tree.  Every  bit  of  glass  in  our  limousine  was 
smashed.  Piper  received  an  ugly  wound  on  the  forehead. 
The  writer's  upper  lip  was  split,  his  nose  torn,  and  a 
deep  cut  was  made  on  the  right  side  of  the  head.  Our 
chauffeur,  although  he  shrieked  and  proclaimed  offic- 
ially that  he  was  dying,  was  unhurt.  A  surgeon  of  the 
Fourth  British  Army  in  the  train  of  lorries  ran  to  our 
assistance,  gave  us  first  aid,  sent  us  to  a  hospital  in  the 

—  178  — 


outskirts  of  Arras,  where  anti-tetanus  injections  were 
given,  and  then  ordered  us  to  a  Canadian  clearance 
station  in  Arras. 

I  had  often  read  of  unemotional  or  frozen  minds  of 
aviators  when  about  to  face  death.  It  recalled  vividly 
to  me  my  own  mental  operations  before  my  mishap. 
While  the  tree  into  which  we  ran  was  not  more  than 
one  hundred  fifty  feet  off  the  road,  it  nevertheless 
seemed  a  long  time  before  the  smash  really  came.  I 
recall  my  first  thought  when  we  headed  for  the  tree,  was 
that  the  tree  and  machine  were  living  things,  not  inan- 
imate bodies,  and  that  they  were  soon  to  meet.  A  thrill 
of  joy  ran  through  me  as  I  felt  I  was  a  part  of  a  living 
thing  that  would  come  off  triumphant  when  the  crash 
came.  Then,  as  aviators  say,  my  mind  froze.  Death  or 
injury  were  thoughts  which  never  entered  my 
mind  s*  s+ 

Stepping  from  the  car  after  the  crash,  it  did  not  dawn 
upon  me  that  I  was  hurt  until  I  found  blood  gushing 
from  my  cuts.  Gazing  at  our  wrecked  machine  with  its 
smashed  radiator,  front  wheels  around  the  tree  which 
had  prevented  the  car  from  overturning,  another  deep 
thrill  shot  through  me  as  I  said  to  myself:  "  Well,  old 
tree,  we  gave  you  a  jolly  good  jolt,  anywray." 
My  companion,  Piper,  wrote  afterwTard:  '  WTar  is  no 
respecter  of  persons,  particularly  of  such  harmless  and 
well-intentioned  beings  as  journalistic  non-combatants. 
An  automobile  may  not  be,  strictly  speaking,  a  weapon 
of  war;  but  when  it  has  a  mishap  in  the  war  area,  and 
it  is  a  military  car,  under  military  escort,  on  a  military 
highway,  and  when  the  occupants  are  rescued  from  the 
wTreck  after  a  collision,  by  a  military  party,  headed  by 
an  army  surgeon,  and  then  taken  to  two  military  hos- 
pitals to  be  patched  up,  it  would  seem  as  though  the 
two  casualties  were  entitled  to  wound  stripes  hour  the 

—  179  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 


World  War  British  government,  in  whose  keeping  they  were  at  the 
At  Its  time  of  the  accident." 
Climax  After  an  hour  of  rest  in  the  final  hospital  to  which  we 
^  had  been  taken,  command  came  that  we  go  into  the 
•  theater  *  to  be  operated  on."  Why  it  was  called  a 
theater,  I  never  learned.  Certainly  I  saw  no  mimic  stage 
there,  everything  being  painfully  real  and  tragic.  Oxy- 
gen and  ether  were  given  to  Piper.  The  writer  had  a  dismal 
wait  of  two  hours.  Why  he  was  taken  into  the  theater 
instead  of  remaining  in  the  reception  room  until  every- 
thing was  in  readiness  he  will  never  understand.  Besides 
listening  to  his  companion's  half  conscious  struggles 
against  the  administration  of  the  anaesthetic,  there 
were  the  cries  of  children  who  had  been  badly  hurt  when 
the  Germans,  in  retreating  through  a  little  town  near 
Arras,  two  days  before,  had  wantonly  shelled  it.  Only 
old  persons  and  children  inhabited  the  small  settlement 
— the  young  and  middle  aged  were  at  war.  Occupants 
of  the  little  village,  wounded  or  not,  fled,  or  were  taken 
to  the  hospital  because  it  was  the  only  place  they  could 
find  refuge. 

Shelling  the  little  hamlet  was  an  act  of  fiendishness  on 
the  part  of  the  Germans,  as  it,  under  no  circumstances, 
could  be  construed  as  serving  a  military  purpose  or 
necessity  s*>  $& 

After  the  two  hours'  wait  for  Piper's  surgeon  my  case 
was  reached,  Piper  having  been  returned  to  the  ward. 
I  refused  to  be  etherized,  declaring  that  if  the  little 
children  to  whose  heartrending  cries  I  had  listened, 
could  stand  their  agonies,  I  should  not  complain.  The 
surgeon  remonstrated  but  finally  sewed  me  up,  taking 
a  dozen  or  more  stitches  in  my  various  lacerations.  Then 
I  rejoined  my  companion  in  sorrow,  Piper,  in  the 
general  ward,  where  we  spent  twenty  miserable  hours 
am(>n\g  shell  shocked,  gassed,  torn  and  maimed  soldiers. 

—  180  — 


<I  Noon  next  day  we  were  told  that  we  could  stand  the  World  War 

journey  to  Radinghem  and  were  urged  to  take  it,  as  the  At  Its 

hospital  was  overcrowded  and  there  were  a  number  of  £LIM^X 

cases  of  influenza  in  the  ward,  and  that  Piper  and  I  in    ^ 

our  injured  and  shocked  conditions  might  easily  become    * 

prey  to  it. 

We  arrived  at  Radinghem,  forty-five  miles  away,  at 

four  P.  M.  after  a  tiresome  trip  and  we  were  immediately 

ordered  to  bed  by  General  Haig's  chief  surgeon,  whom 

the  General  had  dispatched  to  Radinghem  on  learning 

that  two  American  newspaper  men,  guests  of  the  British 

government,  were  badly  hurt. 

At  ten  o'clock  on  the  following  morning  the  surgeon, 

after  an  exhaustive  examination,  dressed  our  wounds 

afresh  and  ordered  us  sent  immediately  to  Paris,  where 

he  said  better  facilities  were  to  be  had,  adding  that 

American  base  hospitals  were  conducted  by  the  highest 

medical  and  surgical  talent  in  the  world.  A  motor  ride 

of  three  hours  brought  us  to  Amiens,  from  where  we 

entrained  for  Paris,  arriving  at  nine   o'clock  at  night. 

Always  I  shall  regard  the  automobile  smash  near  Arras 

as  a  piece  of  glorious  good  luck,  followed  by  many  and 

great  compensations,  first  of  which  was,  it  brought  to 

me  in  Paris,  my  son,  who  was  primarily  my  inducement 

for  making  the  trip  abroad.  It  also  unfolded  to  me  a 

close  up  view  in    hospitals    where    I    saw    abundant 

proof  of  woman's    wonderful,    never  to   be  forgotten 

war  work;  saw  as  sublime  a  spirit  and  as  great  heroism 

displayed  by  the  American  boy  in  hospital  as  upon 

battlefield;  saw  many  examples  of  Hun  wickedness  and 

atrocity;    saw   how    selfishness,    class    distinction   and 

religious  difference  melted  away  on  the  part  of  the 

Allies  in  a  war  to  make  future  wars  impossible,  and  the 

world  safe  for  democracy,  and,  finally,  saw  why  Allies 

won  and  Germans  lost. 

—  181  — 


.    {it .     - 

■   ■*, 


* 


:      ■. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 


Preparing   for   Paris 

Finishing   Up  in  Normandy  and  Belgium — A   Farewell  Look   at 
Ruined  Belgium  and  Northeastern  France. 

[OMPLETION  of  our  trip  in  Belgium 
and  Northeastern  France  on  Thursday, 
Friday  and  up  to  Saturday  at  three 
P.  M.  when  our  party  took  the  train 
from  Amiens  for  Paris,  is  told  best  in 
letters  current  on  that  date  to  our 
i  various  newspapers,  from  which  this 
chapter  is  taken: 

"  Our  trip  for  the  third  day  to  the  British  front,  Thursday, 
October  Twenty -fourth,  was  of  unusual  interest  for  the 
reason  that  it  took  us  through  that  portion  of  French 
Flanders  and  Southern  Belgium  in  which  the  British 
army  had  withstood  the  most  violent  attacks  of  the 
Huns.  Our  first  stop  of  importance  was  at  Ypres.  This 
beautiful  and  historic  Belgian  city  had  been  so  com- 
pletely destroyed  that  no  one  of  its  several  important 
buildings  can  be  restored.  The  magnificent  cathedral 
and  Cloth  Hall  are  today  but  huge  piles  of  broken  stone 
and  there  is  not  a  single  undamaged  structure  in  the 
entire  city.  For  nearly  four  years  this  city  had  been  the 
target  for  German  guns,  and  our  guide,  Major  Montague, 
was  especially  qualified  to  point  out  to  us  the  interesting 
details  of  the  long  fight,  as  he  had  for  months  served  on 
the  staff  of  the  Canadian  General  commanding  the 
troops  at  this  point.  He  showed  us  how  the  Germans 
had  for  months  held  the  commanding  positions  on  the 

—  183  — 


World  War 

At  Its 

Climax 


ridges  where  they  could  look  down  on  the  British 
trenches  and  see  every  move  of  the  Allied  troops. 
"  From  Ypres  we  took  the  road  to  the  east  over  which 
the  Germans  had  retreated  to  Menin  and  Courtrai.  This 
section  showed  the  most  terrific  destruction  of  any  we 
had  seen.  There  was  no  evidence  that  a  village  had  ever 
existed  between  Ypres  and  Menin.  Even  the  very  brick 
and  wood  of  which  they  had  been  built  had  disappeared 
in  the  maelstrom  of  destruction.  But  even  worse  than 
this  was  the  destruction  of  the  very  soil.  Both  German 
and  British  guns  had  planted  heavy  shells  so  thickly  in 
this  district  that  there  was  hardly  a  square  foot  of  soil 
that  was  not  a  part  of  a  shell  crater.  Unexploded  shells 
by  the  thousand  could  be  seen  over  this  section,  and  we 
were  assured  that  hundreds  of  thousands  more  were 
buried  in  the  soil,  a  menace  to  the  Belgian  farmer  when 
he  made  the  effort  to  again  cultivate  his  small 
field  &&■  8+ 

"  The  town  of  Meuin  bore  mute  testimony  to  the  pure 
devilishness  of  the  Huns.  This  town  had  largely  escaped 
the  shells  from  the  guns  of  both  armies,  and  while  the 
walls  of  practically  all  the  buildings  were  still  standing, 
the  roofs,  the  floors,  the  door  and  window  casings,  and 
in  fact  everything  made  of  wood  had  been  torn  out  and 
carried  away  by  the  Germans,  leaving  behind  them  a 
gutted  town. 

"  We  were  the  first  civilians  to  enter  Courtrai  after  the 
evacuation  of  the  Germans,  and  at  this  point  we  were 
between  the  British  and  German  artillery  lines,  the  big 
British  guns  being  in  action  behind  the  city  shelling  the 
German  lines  some  three  miles  east  of  Courtrai. 
"  Courtrai  had  suffered  comparatively  little  except  from 
street  fighting  and  the  blowing  up  of  bridges  across  the 
canals.  Here  was  shown  evidence  of  the  heavier  work  of 
the  British  Engineers  in  the  construction  under  fire  of 

—  184  — 


foot  bridges  across  the  canals  to  permit  of  the  advance  World  War 
of  the  British  infantry.  At  Its 

"  It  was  here  that  we  had  the  privilege  of  ransacking  the  (jLIMAX 
headquarters    of   a    German    army   corps    commander    ^ 
which  showed  evidence  of  having  been  hurriedly  de-    • 
serted.  Maps  and  papers  and  both  private  and  official 
correspondence  were  scattered  about  in  wild  confusion 
and  from  these  we  were  permitted  to  select  such  sou- 
venirs as  pleased  our  fancy. 

"  We  ate  lunch  that  day  in  the  public  poor  cafe  of  Cour- 
trai,  and  had  about  us  many  of  the  people  of  the  place  who 
were  persistent  in  their  demands  for  information  about 
the  world  from  which  they  had  been  practically  excluded 
for  exactly  four  years. 

"  On  our  way  back  to  the  chateau,  we  stopped  at  the 
picturesque  town  of  Castle  for  tea.  It  is  located  on  top 
of  one  of  the  hills  peculiar  to  this  section  of  Belgium  and 
as  we  sat  at  the  tables  and  looked  from  the  windows 
over  the  lowlands,  Major  Norie  told  us  of  the  many 
days  when  as  a  member  of  a  division  staff  he  had  sat 
at  the  same  window  and  watched  the  German  shells 
drop  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  but  the  range  was  just  too 
far  for  any  of  them  to  reach  the  top. 
It  was  eight  thirty  when  we  reached  the  chateau  and 
found  the  usual  good  dinner  waiting  for  us. 
"  We  said  good-by  to  Major  Norie  when  we  left  the 
chateau  Friday  morning,  for,  while  we  were  to  spend 
two  days  more  on  the  British  front,  our  last  night  there 
was  to  be  spent  with  the  troops  in  the  field. 
"  Our  route  for  Friday  took  us  to  Albert  as  the  first  of  the 
towns  in  the  fighting  zone  we  were  to  see  on  this  day. 
From  Albert  through  to  Perrone  and  then  on  to  Roisel, 
the  headquarters  of  General  Henry  Rawlinson  com- 
manding the  Fourth  British  Army.  But  a  short  time 
before  we  reached  Roisel  a  delayed  mine,  planted  by 

—  185  — 


§ 


World  War  the  Boche  before  he  had  evacuated  the  place,  exploded 
At  Its  and  destroyed  the  road  crossing  over  which  we  were  to 

Climax  nave  Pa?sed. 

"At  Roisel  we  met  General  Rawlinson,  whose  head- 
quarters were  in  a  cleverly  camouflaged  railroad  train, 
and  he  asked  that  we  meet  him  on  the  battlefield  of 
Guillemont  Farm.  Our  New  York  Division  and  the 
Thirtieth  American  division  fought  this  battle. 
"All  during  Friday,  we  were  riding  over  what  had  been 
the  battlefields  of  the  Somme,  and  words  can  not 
describe  the  terrible  destruction  wrought  in  this  district. 
For  mile  after  mile  not  a  house  of  any  kind  had  been 
left  standing,  and  in  nearly  all  cases  no  evidence 
remained  that  there  had  ever  been  houses  on  these  acres 
that  but  four  years  before  had  been  counted  the  most 
productive  in  all  France. 

"  Not  only  were  there  no  houses  but  there  were  no  trees, 
no  shrubs,  nothing  living  but  weeds.  The  stumps  of  the 
trees  where  once  had  stood  beautiful  orchards  bore 
silent  witness  of  the  truth  of  the  charge  against  the 
Boche  that  he  had  wantonly  cut  down  the  fruit  trees 
as  he  retreated  from  this  district. 

'  The  Somme  fields  had  been  fought  over  for  four  years. 
They  had  been  for  a  short  time  held  by  the  Germans, 
then  for  more  than  three  years  by  the  French  and 
English,  and  then  in  March  of  this  year  the  Huns  had 
driven  the  French  and  English  backward  again  and 
had  occupied  the  ground  until  Foch  had  taken  the 
initiative  and  turned  the  tide  of  the  war. 

'  Cemeteries  were  everywhere;  British,  French,  Ameri- 
can, Portuguese,  Belgian  and  German  cemeteries,  for 
many  thousands  of  men  lie  buried  on  these  fields  and 
the  grave  of  each  is  marked  by  the  small  wooden  cross 
that  gives  either  the  number  of  the  soldier  or  his  name 
and  regiment.  At  Guillemont  farm  there  are  large  ceme- 

—  186  — 


teries  where  lie  the  men  of  our  own  Twenty-Seventh  World  War 
and  Thirtieth  American  Divisions,  each  grave  carefully  At  Its 
designated  and  recorded  by  the  American  graves  com-  cLIM^x 
mission  s—  so*  & 

"  There  was  pointed  out  to  us  one  British  cemetery  * 
where  the  Boche  had  perpetrated  a  most  dastardly  trick. 
This  cemetery  had  fallen  into  German  hands  during  the 
retreat  of  the  British  Army  in  March.  As  in  all  other 
British  cemeteries  each  wooden  cross  had  carried  the 
name  of  the  soldier  buried  there,  and  the  number  of  his 
battalion.  While  this  ground  was  held  by  the  Boche  he 
had  very  carefully  painted  out  the  name  of  each  soldier, 
evidently  for  the  purpose  of  depriving  the  relatives  of 
these  dead  soldiers  of  the  privilege  of  knowing  the  exact 
location  of  the  graves  of  their  dear  ones.  Thanks  to  an 
efficient  British  Graves  Commission  every  name  can  be 
restored  to  its  proper  cross. 

"  Friday  night  the  members  of  our  party  spent  the 
night  at  different  brigade  headquarters  of  the  Fourth 
British  Arm  v.  In  a  number  of  cases  the  towns  in  wThich 
these  brigade  headquarters  were  located  were  under  fire 
of  German  guns  during  the  night  and  some  members 
of  the  party  passed  the  night  in  dugouts. 
"  Saturday  morning  the  various  members  of  the  party 
were  gathered  together  and  started  for  their  last  day 
with  the  British  army.  Less  than  forty-eight  hours 
before  the  Germans  had  been  driven  from  Le  Cateau, 
and  were  then  but  a  short  distance  outside  the  town. 
When  our  party  visited  the  place  the  dead  had  not  all 
been  collected  and  buried,  but  were  still  to  be  seen  in 
some  of  the  streets,  and  in  the  fields  at  the  edge  of  the 
town.  While  the  majority  of  these  were  German  dead, 
there  were  among  them  some  English  soldiers  as  evi- 
dence that  the  victory  of  the  Allied  armies  was  being 
paid  for  a«*  $** 

—  187  — 


World  War    '  From  Le  Cateau  the  autos  were  again  headed  west 

At  Its  and   crossed   the  Hindenburg   line   just   north   of   St. 

Climax  Quentm  at  the  point  where  it  was  supposed  to  have 

&    been  absolutely  impregnable.  At  three  o'clock  Saturday 

*    afternoon,  October  Twenty-sixth,  the  party  arrived  at 

Amiens  and  took  train  for  Paris." 


^^"!{ 


O   "this     1«S    PfcXiX  ' 


—  188 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 


Paris 

» 
Editorial    Casualties  Precede  Other   Members   of  the   Party — One 

Goes  to  a  Hotel,  the  Other  to  a  Hospital. 

NDER  escort  of  Major  Montague,  who 
had  placed  the  rest  of  our  party  in 
charge  of  a  subordinate,  we  two  edi- 
torial "  casualties  "  arrived  in  Paris  at 
night  and  went  to  the  Grand  Hotel — 
where  the  French  government,  to 
whom  the  English  government  had 
kindly  farmed  us  out,  had  provided  excellent  quarters 
and  where  the  remainder  of  our  group  rejoined  us  a  day 
later.  A  surgeon,  whom  the  government  had  assigned, 
ordered  Piper  and  me  to  remain  quietly  in  bed  for  five 
or  six  days  to  recover  from  shock.  I  stayed  indoors  until 
evening  next  day  and  Piper,  whose  wounds  had  mean- 
while become  infected,  was  sent  to  the  First  American 
base  hospital  in  the  outskirts  of  Paris  for  a  stay  of 
five  days  $*  £•» 

While  we  were  in  Paris  the  French  government,  which 
bore  the  expense  of  our  entertainment  in  France,  fur- 
nished a  civilian  committee  to  look  after  us.  When  up 
at  French  or  American  fighting  sectors,  French  gen- 
erals and  majors  were  our  escorts. 

Early  in  the  morning  following  our  arrival  we  were 
waited  upon  by  a  civil  committee  of  the  French  govern- 
ment and  informed  we  were  to  command  them  for  any- 
thing we  wished  and  that  on  the  arrival  in  Paris  that 
evening  of  our  companions,  the  whole  program  of  our 

—  189  — 


World  War  stay  in  France  would  be  taken  up  and  determined.  This 

At  Its  committee  was  composed  of  Lord  Casselross,  a  remark- 

Climax  aD^y  handsome  fellow  of  perhaps  thirty  years,  broad - 

g    shouldered,  of  splendid  soldierly  bearing,  six  feet  two. 

■    The  other  member  was  Baron  Lucky,  small  of  stature 

and  slender  of  frame. 

Lord  Casselross  is  a  son  of  Valentine  Charles 
Browne,  Earl  of  Kenmare,  owner  of  the  Lakes  of 
Killarney  and  accounted  Ireland's  richest  man.  Cassel- 
ross is  a  man  of  wonderful  personality,  has  circled  the 
world  several  times,  is  a  scholar  and  a  man  of  many 
attainments.  He  had  served  three  years  at  the  head  of 
an  Irish  regiment;  his  shoulder  was  shot  away  in  battle, 
he  was  captured  by  Germans,  held  for  eight  days 
and  finally  left  to  die  on  the  field  by  these  same  Ger- 
mans, when  they  were  forced  to  retreat,  saying  he  was 
doomed,  anyway,  and  why  waste  effort,  food  and  medi- 
cines on  him?  He  crawled  three  miles  on  hands  and 
knees  back  to  Allied  quarters,  was  sent  to  a  base  hospital 
where  for  eight  months  his  life  was  despaired  of. 
Baron  Lucky  is  a  nephew  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  of  the 
well  known  Bourbon  party  in  France,  who  by  right  of 
succession  would  be  King,  should  France  again  become 
a  kingdom.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  was  critically  ill  of 
pneumonia  at  our  hotel  in  London,  the  Savoy,  when  we 
left  it  for  France.  Baron  Lucky  had  served  three  years 
as  a  major  in  the  French  army.  He  was  gassed  and  shell- 
shocked  and  invalided  home  to  Paris. 
This  distinguished  pair  announced  they  were  wholly  at 
our  service.  We  quickly  learned  that  the  French  govern- 
ment had  selected  them  for  office  because  they  were 
accomplished  entertainers  and  because  of  their  personal 
touch  with  men  of  affairs  in  the  French  capital. 
Just  before  leaving  London  I  had  received  a  letter  from 
Frank  J.  Marion,  formerly  of  Syracuse,  now  of  New 

—  190  — 


York,  with  whom  I  had  worked  as  a  reporter  on  the  World  War 
Syracuse  Standard,  extending  an  invitation  to  our  entire  At  Its 
party  to  go  into  Italy  as  his  guest  and  see  what  was  Climax 
being  done  on  the  Italian  front.  Marion,  whose  head-    ^ 
quarters  were  at  Madrid,  Spain,  had,  because  of  his    * 
great  knowledge  of  film  production,  been  sent  over  by 
the  American  government  as  American  official  photog- 
rapher at  Italian  fronts,  just  as  Lord  Beaverbrook  was 
sent  into  Belgium  and  France  by  England  as  her  repre- 
sentative at  battle  fronts.  As  we  had  already  visited 
Belgium,  to  which  country  we  had  no  passports,  and 
had  also  been  permitted  by  our  English  hosts  to  visit 
American  and  French  points  in  France,  we  decided  not 
to  impose  further  upon  the  good  nature  of  the  Ministry 
of  Information.  Time  was  also  an  element  to  be  con- 
sidered  and   we,   reluctantly,   were   forced   to   decline 
Mr.  Marion's  gracious  invitation. 

At  Amiens,  on  my  way  to  Paris,  while  in  a  restaurant  a 
man  in  American  uniform  attracted  my  attention. 
Accosting  him,  I  learned  he  was  Captain  William 
Grange  of  Brooklyn.  Asked  if  he  had  ever  heard  of  the 
One  Hundred  Fourth  Machine  Gun  Battalion  of  the 
Twenty -seventh  Division,  he  replied  that  he  had  and 
that  it  was  then  at  rest  at  Corbie,  nine  miles  away.  He 
named  several  Syracuse  members  but  had  n't  met  my 
son  George  WT.  He  was  first  to  inform  me  that  Major 
Chester  H.  King,  of  Syracuse,  and  the  One  Hundred 
Fourth  Battalion,  had  been  frightfully  wounded  and 
could  not  possibly  live.  A  hurried  automobile  ride  to 
Corbie  brought  no  results,  as  we  were  unable  to  reach 
the  field  where  the  battalion  was  encamped,  and  Major 
Montague  decided,  to  my  utter  dismay  and  disappoint- 
ment, we  must  return  at  once  to  Amiens  if  we  were  to 
get  our  train  for  Paris  that  evening. 
The  day  following  our  arrival  in  Paris,  through  Lord 

—  191  — 


World  War  Casselross,    who    went    to    General    Pershing's    head- 
At  Its  quarters  there,  General  J.  Leslie  Kincaid  was  reached 
Climax  on  *ne  telePnone  at  Corbie  and  sent  my  son  to  me  at 
&    Paris  so  so 

*  From  the  day  of  our  arrival  in  London  I  had,  through 
the  Ministry  of  Information  and  General  Haig  and  his 
aides,  made  strenuous  efforts  to  get  in  touch  with  my 
son  so  so 

The  London  Times  the  day  after  the  Hindenburg  line 
was  broken  by  General  Rawlinson,  told  how  an  Ameri- 
can Machine  Gun  Battalion  had  failed  to  "  mop  up," 
was  caught  in  a  trap  and  mowed  down  like  grass  by 
raking  German  machine-gun  fire  from  pill  boxes  in  the 
rear.  The  Thirtieth  Division,  from  Georgia,  Alabama 
and  Tennessee  and  our  own  New  York  Twenty -seventh 
Division  were  the  only  American  troops  brigaded  with 
the  Fourth  British  Army  in  Belgium  and  France  who 
likewise  were  the  only  Americans  to  fight  in  Belgium. 
Naturally,  I  felt  certain  my  son's  division  was  the  one 
referred  to  in  The  Times  and  that  he  was  among  the 
slain  so  so 

My  great  joy  can  easily  be  imagined  when  my  son  came 
to  me  in  Paris.  Before  we  had  gotten  in  touch  with  him 
just  prior  to  his  arrival  I  had  received  no  word  for  three 
months  notwithstanding  my  daily  efforts  after  reaching 
London  to  get  into  communication  with  him.  General 
J.  Leslie  Kincaid  had  told  him  I  was  hurt  in  an  auto- 
mobile accident,  not  seriously,  but  just  naturally  was 
anxious  to  see  him.  Apparently  he  was  shocked  when  he 
saw  me,  covered  with  plasters  and  bandages,  one  eye 
closed  and  one  side  of  my  face  and  head  swollen  and 
discolored  so  so 

"  Dad,"  was  his  comment,  "  they  told  me  you  were 
slightly  scratched  up  in  an  automobile  accident  but  you 
look  to  me  as  if  you  had  been  over  the  top." 

—  192  — 


I  replied:  "  Son,  you  are  in  the  wicked  machine  gun  World  War 
service  and  have  been  over  the  top  many  times.  The  At  Its 
Fates  tried  to  drown  me  in  a  tempest  coming  over,  and,  CLIMAX 
failing  in  that,  whanged  me  against  a  tree  up  at  Arras. 
Again   I   refused   to   shuffle   off.   Life   therefore  seems 
mighty  uncertain  for  both  of  us.  We  are  now  to  have  a 
week  together.  Let 's  spend  this  week  just  as  though 
there  was  for  either  of  us  no  other  seven  days  in  this 
world."  s«*  s*> 
And  we  did. 

I  asked  him  why  he  had  n't  answered  my  letters  and 
received  this  reply:  "  For  the  very  good  reason  I  have 
received  none.  The  last  one  was  from  home  many 
months  ago."  To  my  further  question  if  he  knew  I  was 
in  Europe  he  told  me  this  remarkable  story: 
"  Captain  Hancock  came  into  my  tent  a  few  weeks  ago 
and  asked  me  how  it  happened  that  my  father  was  over 
here  hobnobbing  with  royalty.  I  thought  he  was  josh- 
ing me.  Then  he  handed  me  a  copy  of  the  London  Times 
which  had  been  dropped  from  the  air  and  landed  near 
him.  He  picked  it  up  and  found  it  contained  an  account 
of  your  visit  to  Sandringham,  to  the  King  and  Queen, 
giving  all  names  of  your  party." 

It  was  the  usual  thing  it  seems  to  drop  newspapers  from 
airplanes  to  boys  in  camp  and  on  field,  but  that  this 
particular  issue,  dropped  so  casually,  should  have  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  an  interested  Syracusan,  seemed  to 
me  remarkable  indeed. 

The  clock  struck  one  in  a  tower  across  the  street.  My 
son  looked  covetously  through  a  wide  flung  door  into  an 
immaculate,  spacious  bathroom  with  its  big,  inviting 
porcelain  tub  in  which  a  few  moments  later  he  was 
splashing  to  his  heart's  content.  His  ablutions  over,  he 
dressed  for  the  night,  threw  back  the  snowy  sheets  of  a 
great,  downy,  luxurious  couch  and  crawled  in,  the  first 

—  193  — 


World  War  time  in  more  than  eight  months  he  had  slept  in  a  bed. 

At  Its  And  soon,  no  doubt,  he  lay  dreaming  of  the  sloughs  of 

Climax  Belgium   and   the   trenches   and   dug  outs   of  French 

„    Normandy  that  had  been  his  night  chamber  for  all  these 

'    long,  bleak,  weary  months. 

Those  of  our  party  abroad  for  the  first  time  were  eager 
to  compare  Paris  with  London.  From  what  we  had  read 
and  heard  of  Paris  we  had  visualized  it  as  a  gay,  wicked 
city  with  commercialized  vice  everywhere  rampant. 
Our  preconceived  ideas  were  quickly  and  thoroughly 
dispelled.  Paris  had  surely  lost  its  former  blithesomeness 
and  gayety ,  for  which,  if  we  were  rightly  informed,  it  was 
noted.  Streets  were  more  completely  darkened  at  night 
than  in  London.  Even  taxis  were  not  permitted  to  show 
lights  except  a  faint  gleam  thrown  upon  the  pavement 
for  a  few  feet  ahead.  Saloons,  drinking  places,  resorts 
like  the  famous  Maxime's,  which  in  pre-war  days,  and 
since  the  war,  never  closed  its  doors,  were  hermetically 
sealed  at  eleven  o'clock.  Theaters  ran,  the  theory  being 
that  war-wrought  people  must  have  some  form  of 
diversion  or  they  would  go  mad.  Spanish  influenza  was 
at  its  height,  collecting  frightful  toll.  Between  the  acts 
and  sometimes  during  them,  ushers  passed  through 
aisles  spraying  the  audience  with  a  supposedly  germ- 
killing  solution. 

But  practically  all  the  wonderful  haunts  of  revelry  we 
had  been  told  so  much  about  were  closed,  and  gay  and 
emotional  Paris  was  thoroughly  sobered  by  the  serious- 
ness of  war  £»  s& 

Big  Berthas  and  airplanes  had  done  great  damage  and 
had  terrorized  people  generally.  The  Arch  of  Triumph 
on  the  Champs  Ely  sees  had  been  hit  with  little  damage, 
and  it,  as  well  as  the  Palace  of  Justice,  the  Louvre,  the 
Grand  Palace  of  Arts  had  been  almost  buried  behind 
bags  of  sand  to  protect  them  from  shots  of  Big  Berthas 

—  194  — 


which   had   narrowly   missed   several   of   them.    From  World  War 
famous  art  galleries,  paintings  and  statuary  had  been  At  Its 
removed,  no  one  knew  where,  and  the  galleries  were  £LIMAX 
closed  s«*  $t>  g 

And  beautiful  Paris,  with  its  wonderful  boulevards,  its    • 
magnificent  parks  and  parkways  and  handsome  build- 
ings, none  more  than  five  stories  high,  seemed  to  us  far 
more  solemn  than  London. 

Perhaps  the  most  solemnly  sad  disclosure  a  few  days 
after  our  arrival  in  Paris  was  news  that  at  Rheims,  a 
section  of  France  famous  for  generations  as  the  great 
champagne  producing  belt,  were  one  hundred  million 
bottles  of  champagne  in  concrete  subterranean  ware- 
houses. The  territory  was  a  sort  of  No  Man's  Land. 
French  held  and  Germans  shelled  it.  The  French  dared 
not  attempt  to  remove  it  under  German  guns. 
For  seventy-five  years  subterranean  storehouses  and 
cisterns  had  been  built  in  hills  of  this  neighborhood 
until  they  were  honeycombed  with  them.  In  the  last 
forty  years  these  storing  places  had  been  made  of  highly- 
resistant  concrete  so  that  they  were  unharmed  by  Ger- 
man shells.  Not  until  war  ceased,  however,  was  this 
precious  cache  retrieved.  It  was  too  late  then,  to  be 
available  to  the  best  advantage,  as  America,  for  whose 
consumption  it  was  chiefly  intended,  at  pretty  stiff 
figures,  had  already  gone  dry.  We  were  told,  though,  it 
would  not  be  wholly  an  unmixed  loss,  as  Americans  in 
France,  as  well  as  troops  who  remained  overseas  with 
the  Army  of  Occupation,  could  tickle  their  palates  with 
rare  old  vintages  at  extremely  reasonable  prices. 
Eminent  men  of  France  under  the  French  Academy,  a 
learned  society  with  distinguished  members  of  many 
professions,  feted  the  editors  at  the  Volney  club.  Phi- 
losophers, poets,  orators  were  among  the  speakers.  An 
Alsatian  poet  delivered  a  classic  address  of  welcome. 

—  195  — 


World  War  The  few  of  our  party  who  understood  French  declared  it 

At  Its  a  masterpiece.  It  was  a  warm-hearted  welcome  to  Amer- 

Climax  icans  an^  a  deconsecration  of  France's  traditional  love 

to    for  America  and  Americans. 

*  A  Mr.  Boutroux,  Professor  of  Philosophy  in  the 
French  Academy,  was  chief  speaker  for  the  societies 
entertaining  us.  He  spoke  substantially  as  follows: 
"  I  have  always  had  the  deepest  admiration  for  America 
and  Americans  and  especially  for  their  adaptability  in 
undertaking  any  task  whatsoever.  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  American  journalists,  whose  ideals  of  hero- 
ism and  altruism  are  absolutely  of  the  highest.  In 
France,  public  opinion  counts  for  much.  In  America  it 
counts  for  a  great  deal,  as  I  understand  it,  and,  there- 
fore, is  your  obligation  all  the  greater,  because  you  have 
so  many  depending  upon  you  for  guidance  and  infor- 
mation. In  contradistinction  to  the  press  of  America, 
the  press  of  Germany  is  controlled  entirely  by  the  Gov- 
ernment and,  I  might  say,  existing  in  slavery,  as  it  were, 
being  subject,  as  it  is,  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  militar- 
istic factions.  America  has  been  of  invaluable  help  to 
France  in  this  present  crisis  and  we  must  bring  all 
Germany  to  her  knees  and  crush  the  Hohenzollern, 
penetrate  German  territory  and  dictate  the  terms  of 
peace  in  Berlin." 


190 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 


Marshal  Joffire 


Talks  at  Napoleon's  Tomb,  Where  Story  of  Lafayette's  Love  for 
America  Was  Told — Lafayette  Wished  to  be  Buried  in 
American  Soil  and  Was. 

HEN  our  Editorial  party  visited  Mar- 
shal Joft're  in  Paris,  he  spoke  fervently 
of  his  great  love  for  America,  gave  us 
all  the  glory  for  turning  the  tide  of 
victory,  which  (though  he  forecast  at 
that  time  a  very  long  fight)  he  declared 
he  was  sure  had  turned  in  favor  of  the 
Allies.  He  trembled  with  emotion  as  he  asserted  that 
two  great  ambitions  remaining  with  him  were,  first  to 
live  to  the  war's  end  and  then  second,  to  revisit  America, 
travel  over  it  and  tell  how  deeply  he  appreciated  our 
generous,  kindly  treatment  of  him  on  the  occasion  of 
his  former  visit  and  give  a  soldier's  testimony  and  esti- 
mate of  the  big  part  the  splendid  young  heroes  from 
America  were  taking  in  ending  the  war.  So  long  as 
civilization  endured  and  memory  remained,  France 
would  love  America  with  a  love  that  nothing  could 
alienate.  From  the  immortal  Lafayette's  day — one  hun- 
dred forty  years — this  mutual  love  of  two  great  nations 
had  existed  s*>  s* 

From  this  conference  a  few  of  us  went,  under  escort  of  a 
high  French  officer,  to  the  Hotel  des  Invalides,  which, 
as  is  generally  known  to  visitors  to  Paris,  is  a  soldiers' 
home,  an  arsenal  containing  all  guns  captured  in 
Napoleonic  wars,  while  in  the  handsome  museum  are 

—  197  — 


World  War  many  trophies  of  combat,  principally  of  flags  of  con- 
At  Its  quered  nations  and  municipalities. 

Climax  ^s  we  st°°d  a^  the  tomb  of  Napoleon  we  mentioned 
^  Napoleon's  great  ambition  to  conquer  the  world  which 
*  Kaiser  Wilhelm  had  set  out  to  imitate.  Our  French 
escort,  who  has  studied  in  and  taken  degrees  from  Colum- 
bia college  and  the  University  of  Chicago,  resented 
the  comparison.  Napoleon,  he  declared,  was  a  great 
military  genius  and  strategist;  Kaiser  Wilhelm  was 
neither.  Napoleon  loved  his  men  and  cared  nothing  for 
power  for  its  sake  alone.  Had  he  subdued  the  nations 
which  he  fought,  his  generals  would  become  their  rulers 
under  the  most  liberal  form  of  government.  While 
Napoleon  would  live  in  history  as  one  of  the  best 
beloved  and  most  revered  sons  of  France,  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm's  name  would  go  down  to  posterity  as  the  most 
cruel,  the  most  tyrannical  and  the  most  thoroughly 
hated  that  had  ever  lived — especially  in  the  minds  of 
his  own  people.  It  was  undoubtedly  the  life  dream  of  the 
Kaiser  to  do  what  he  said  Napoleon  and  Frederick  the 
Great  had  sought  to  do  and  failed — conquer  the 
world  &+  so 

In  no  degree  or  way  did  he  resemble  either  of  these  two 
mighty  men.  Marshal  Foch,  although  the  implements 
of  war  were  in  no  way  similar  in  the  two  eras,  was  pur- 
suing zealously  tactics  which  had  marked  Napoleon  as 
the  greatest  general  of  all  time.  Who  could  not  see  in 
Foch's  every  move  (his  strategic  massing  and  move- 
ment of  his  troops,  the  repeated  surprise  attacks  upon 
his  foes,  never  permitting  them  to  rest  for  a  moment, 
keeping  them  ever  in  a  state  of  perplexity,  as  to  what 
was  coming  next)  the  shade  of  mighty  Napoleon? 
As  we  strolled  admiringly  amid  splendors  of  tomb  and 
cathedral,  conversation  centered  upon  the  bonds  of 
friendship  and  affection  existing  between  France  and 

—  108  — 


America.  Naturally,  the  name  of  Marquis  de  Lafayette  World  War 

was  spoken  so  &&  At  Its 

Our  escort,  commenting  on  the  general's  great  love  for  cLIMAX 

America,  inquired  if  we  had  heard  of  his  wish,  often    <*, 

expressed  by  him,  to  be  buried  in  American  soil.  Then    " 

he  told  us  that  when  the  immortal  man  passed  on,  it 

was  found  he  had  anticipated  his  lifelong  wish  by  taking 

over  to  France  three  big  boxes  of  American  earth,  in 

which,  in  accordance  with  his  request,  he  lies  buried, 

in  the  handsome  Picpus  cemetery  in  the  suburbs  of 

Paris  so  so 


"  Lafayette,  We  Are  Here." 


199 


CHAPTER  XXXV 


Paris  in  Peace  and  in  War 

Gaiety  and  Merriment  Give  Way  to  Sadness  and  Depression — 
France  With  Volatile  Temperament  Could  Not  Put  On  the 
Determined   Stolid  Demeanor  of  the  English. 

[HE  Paris  of  wartime  was  not,  super- 
ficially, at  any  rate,  the  gay  Paris  of 
peace.  The  French  capital  preserved 
somehow  something  of  its  joy  of  life. 
Perhaps  the  presence  of  my  son  and 
the  sense  of  our  being  preserved  colored 
the  city  for  us.  It  was  a  city  of  good 
living,  although  that  could  be  said  of  any  city  we 
touched  on  our  travels,  for  nowhere  were  we  allowed  to 
feel  the  pinch  of  deprivation  the  civilian  populace 
abroad  and  at  home  felt  in  a  measure  as  much  as  the 
militarv  s+  a*» 

Perhaps  Paris  had  drugged  itself  with  some  elixir 
of  victory,  some  draught  of  desperation.  Faces  that 
smiled  sadly  eddied  in  the  daytime  throngs.  For  every 
family  that  was  reft  by  war,  there  hung  at  some  one's 
lapel  that  kismet  family  of  fantastic  dolls,  Rin-Tin- 
Tin,  the  father,  Ninette,  the  mother  and  Ra-Da-Da- 
Dou,  the  child.  It  was  an  absurdity,  a  collection  of 
cheap  cloth  or  paper  effigies  with  hardly  the  remotest 
resemblance  to  dolls,  but  everywhere  recognized. 
Probably  gay  France  laughed  at  herself  for  taking 
life,  death  or  war  so  seriously,  for  every  one  said  Rin- 
Tin-Tin  and  Ninette  and  their  little  one  would  win  the 
war.  It  was  a  brave  Paris,  with  darkened  streets  of 

—  201  — 


? 


World  War  nights,  girls  manning  every  place  they  could  fill,  bomb- 
At  Its  P^oof  shelters  yawning  until  the  next  air-attack  alarm 
Climax  or  Durstmg  Big  Bertha  shell  should  bring  them  their  fill, 
and  life  at  its  most  hectic  behind  shuttered  restaurant 
fronts,  where  boys  and  girls  quaffed  the  cup  of  pleasure 
quickly,  fearing  the  dregs  of  death  and  disillusionment 
too  near  so  so 

The  world  has  heard  how  the  leader  of  the  Apaches 
mobilized  them  into  the  taxicab  brigade  that  went 
out  to  die  lest  Paris  fall  to  "  the  dirty  Boche,"  and  how 
they  died,  as  red-blooded  a  legend  as  any  gory  tale  of 
crime  by  savage  Apache  aborigine. 
How  the  Latin  Quarter  was  emptied  of  its  students, 
its  artists,  its  models  and  its  hangers-on  is  familiar  to 
all  who  ran  and  read  in  the  war. 

Montmartre  was  desolate,  as  the  French  said,  not  that 
we  went  to  see  if  there  was  any  life  left  in  the  Black 
Cat  yet,  or  any  grist  for  grinding  in  the  Moulin  Rouge, 
but  rather  that  our  informed  guides  mentioned  it  in 
passing  so  so 

It  was  as  at  home  where  Broadway  turned  down  the 
lights.  It  was  not  regulation  at  Paris  either  so  much 
as  necessity.  There  was  no  surplus  energy  for  white 
lights  so  so 

The  boulevards  sparkled  in  the  robes  of  fall.  All  the 
world  was  there  on  promenade  or  review.  The  French- 
man took  his  glass  or  cup  of  black  coffee,  grenadine, 
ordinaire  or  stronger  drink  and  read  his  communique 
as  before  he  read  the  latest  startling  news. 
As  at  New  York  and  at  London,  one  caught  more  of 
the  feel  of  youth  at  Paris.  Youth  might  be  dying  but 
youth  never  said  die  and  was  not  dead. 
The  Seine  flowed  on,  still  French,  and  ancient  anglers 
went  out  mornings  to  the  banks.  Although  all  the 
world   might  be  coming  to  Paris,   the  city  remained 

—  202  — 


steadfastly  French.  No  clustering  villages  with  f  rocked  World  War 
and    wooden-shoed   peasants    impressed  one    as    more  At  Its 
French  than  Paris,  although  at  the  capital  the  army  CLIMAX 
uniforms  of  all  the  world  friendly  to  France  might  be    «* 
seen  on  parade.  * 

Warning  was  up  on  every  hand  against  spies.  "  Dis- 
trust yourself!  The  enemy's  ears  are  everywhere!  " 
read  signs  that  were  translated  for  us.  So  Paris  hospi- 
tably provided  even  for  the  enemies  of  France,  there 
without  uniforms. 

There  was  something  in  the  air  that  could  be  sensed 
nowhere  except  at  Paris.  Perhaps  it  was  some  pre- 
science of  victory  so  nearly  won  after  such  bitter 
years  s»  so 

^  While  cathedrals  and  museums  were  upholstered 
with  sandbags  and  camouflaged  against  the  spying 
eyes  and  devastating  aim  of  enemy  airmen  and  the 
fire  of  Big  Bertha,  they  stood  as  lasting  monuments 
to  the  soul  of  Paris. 

Massive,  spacious,  colorful,  the  old  Frank,  his  spirit 
of  art  and  his  monuments  embodying  it,  gave  challenge 
to  the  forces  that  would  crush  them  with  hatred  and  its 
weapons  so  so 

To  one  knowing  Paris,  the  way  she  showed  her  varied 
hues  in  war  must  be  a  study  of  fascinating  appeal, 
worthy  of  a  master  pen.  To  the  stranger,  especially 
from  a  young  country  of  happy  history,  it  was  natural 
to  ponder  on  the  qualities  of  a  city,  almost  a  nation  in 
itself,  that  had  come  through  such  crucibles  as  the 
revolution,  the  siege  and  the  bombardment,  and  still 
remained  the  same,  Parisian  Paris. 

The  sewers,   the  morgue,   the  Bohemian  resorts,   the 
style  centers,  the  Champs  Elysees,  were  not  for  us, 
bent  on  seeing  the  conduct  of  the  war. 
Perhaps    what    an    earlier    generation    of    Americans 

—  203  — 


World  War  viewed  as  Paris  was  not  Paris  anyway,  any  more  than 

At  Its  a  black  eye  is  a  face. 

Climax  ^ne  cl^  °^  French  magnificence  had  not  yet  taken  on  the 

s    American  aspect  it  gained  with  the  influx  of  the  peace 

•    parties.  American  guards  were  everywhere  to  keep  the 

boys  out  of  mischief. 

With  the  Armistice,  Paris  went  mad  all  the  world 
knows,  with  weeping  and  laughter,  wine  and  crowds. 
To  be  in  Paris  then  might  have  been  different,  rather 
than  in  wartime,  workaday  Paris,  when  women  ran  the 
street  cars,  the  old  one  tended  to  the  children,  mother 
kept  shop  and  every  able-bodied  boy  and  man  was 
under  arms  so  s+ 

But  to  be  anywhere  alive  Armistice  night  was  pleasure 
enough,  and  we  were  in  London. 


—  204  — 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 


On  the  American  Front 

Had  a  Real  Taste  of  War  and  Glad  to  Get  Back  to  Paris — After- 
ward Kept  Further  Back  From  the  Firing  Front. 

GENERAL  JOHN  F.  BIDDLE  of  Phila- 
delphia, stationed  in  London,  had 
invited  us  before  leaving  for  France 
to  spend  a  week  at  the  American 
sector  under  command  of  General 
Pershing.  This  would  not  permit  us  to 
see  the  French  fronts  and  so  we  de- 
cided to  put  in  two  days  to  inspect  the  strictly  Ameri- 
can battle  fronts,  and  devote  the  remaining  four  days 
to  French  fronts,  as  we  were  guests  of  the  French 
government  through  courtesy  of  the  British  govern- 
ment. Chaumont  was  general  field  headquarters  of  the 
American  Expeditionary  Forces. 

We  had  already  visited  scenes  where  the  New 
York  State  Twenty-seventh  Division  and  the 
Thirtieth  Division  from  Southern  States  fought  with 
the  Fourth  British  Army.  St  Mihiel  and  Verdun  for 
four  years  had  been  the  scene  of  German  attack  and 
French  tenacity  and  resistance.  Lieutenant  Perigord 
for  France  and  Major  Montague  for  England  escorted 
our  party  to  the  American  front.  Perigord  is  the  bril- 
liant lecturer  who  toured  America  on  behalf  of  our 
Third  Liberty  Loan.  Neuf chateau  was  reached  first 
night,  many  points  of  interest  meanwhile  being  viewed, 
and  next  day  the  whole  American  sector  was  traversed. 
Colomby  was  a  point  of  interest  as  an  aviation  section 

—  205  — 


World  War  from  which  nearly  all  our  American  fliers  who  fought 
At  Its  m  *ne  war  went  out.  A  demonstration  was  made  for 
Climax  ^ne  Denent  °f  the  visitors.  Anti-aircraft  guns  were 
demonstrated,  but  it  was  freely  admitted  that  their 
efficiency  had  proved  disappointing. 
Other  places  of  interest  as  fought  over  for  four  years 
were  Pont-a-Mousson,  Seicheprey,  Thiaucourt,  Pannes, 
Nonsard,  Heudricourt,  Les  Eparges,  Vigneulles  and 
Beaumont,  all  of  which  were  visited.  Constant  firing 
by  the  Germans  dropping  a  shell  here  and  there  near 
us  made  Paris  seem  safe  and  dear,  and  afternoon  found 
us  bound  there  as  fast  as  we  could  go. 
Domremy,  near  Neufchateau,  where  Joan  of  Arc  was 
born,  was  a  point  of  especial  interest  to  the  editorial 
excursionists  on  the  way  back  to  Paris.  Joan's  home  is 
just  as  it  was  five  hundred  years  ago.  There  are 
shrines  to  her  memory  everywhere.  A  heroic  statue  is 
in  the  court  in  the  center  of  the  little  settlement. 
Indeed  the  French  country  homes  are  about  as  they 
were  in  Joan's  day — rooms  dark  and  cold  and  unin- 
viting. Domremy  is  well  worth  seeing,  however. 
f$  A  motor  drive  to  Chaumont  was  taken,  after  which 
we  entrained  for  Paris. 


20(5 


v^ 

^ 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 


Fiendishness 

Wild  Riding  Through  Ruined  Villages,  With  a  Gruesome  Experience 
Thrown  in — Farewell  Trip  to  the  War  Zone. 

[EFORE  leaving  Paris  for  a  farewell 
trip  along  French  battle  fronts,  Rae 
of  the  St.  Louis  Globe  Democrat, 
commiserating  Piper  and  me  on  account 
of  our  accident,  said  we  had  some 
measure  of  comfort  in  the  thought  that 
we  had  with  us  our  sons,  who  were 
the  only  ones  from  the  actual  fighting  forces.  Piper 
went  that  day  to  the  American  front,  which  hitherto 
he  had  been  unable  to  visit,  while  I  went  with  Rae, 
Butler  and  Young  to  the  French  front,  our  party 
having  already  been  over  the  American  sector  while 
Piper  was  in  the  hospital. 

*I  On  such  occasions  it  was  not  possible  for  me  to  take 
my  son.  General  Pershing,  as  mentioned  elsewhere, 
had  issued  orders  that  his  men  were  not  permitted  to  go 
to  Paris.  As  this  rule  was  modified  in  my  son's  case, 
when  his  permit  read  '  Paris  only,"  for  him  to  have 
left  Paris  and  gone  elsewhere  without  special  permission 
would  have  subjected  him  to  a  charge  of  desertion. 
Further,  as  he  was  notified  before  coming  to  me  that 
he  had  been  promoted  in  rank,  any  transgression  of 
terms  of  his  leave  would  nullify  his  scheduled  pro- 
motion so*  s& 

Lord  Casselross  offered  him  a  compensatory  balm, 
agreeing  to  take  care  of  him  for  the  day  by  giving  him 

—  207  — 


World  War  two  of  the  best  meals  to  be  had  in  all  Paris — a  consider- 
At  Its  ation  which  loomed  big  to  a  boy  whose  trench  hunger 

Climax  nac*  not  ^et  keen  ^uny  appeased. 

^    Our  party  left  Paris  for  Noyon  on  a  very  early  train. 

*  Lieutenant  (Count)  le  Marvis  representing  the  French 
government  had  us  in  charge.  Perhaps  fifty-five  or 
sixty  years  old,  the  Lieutenant  was  gray,  florid  and 
stocky.  Before  1914,  a  prominent  horseman,  he  had 
sold  pedigreed  horses  to  kings  and  other  royalty 
throughout  Europe  and  dealt  also  in  race  horses. 
Because  of  his  great  knowledge  of  them,  the  Count  was 
now  buying  horses  for  the  French  government  for  use  in 
the  war.  He  is  very  wealthy,  kindly  and  cour- 
teous 5^ .  <* 

Morgan,  the  Associated  Press  man  in  Paris,  was  invited 
to  go  along,  an  invitation  which  he  readily  accepted 
as  he  knew  the  capabilities  of  our  noble  host.  On  the 
train  the  Count  opened  and  spread  before  us  in  the 
compartment,  one  of  the  best  lunches  we  had  had,  and 
none  that  we  had  eaten  since  our  arrival  in  Europe 
had  been  ordinary— pheasant,  chicken,  fruit  and  the 
rarest  old   wines  &*  && 

At  Noyon,  where  we  quit  the  train,  three  French 
limousines  awaited  us,  and  we  began  our  rapid  ride 
along  the  French  front.  From  the  train  window,  as  we 
neared  Noyon,  we  saw  where  General  Jofire  stopped  the 
Boche  in  1914  in  his  rush  to  Paris.  A  very  intelligent, 
young  French  officer  with  whom  we  had  shared  our 
compartment  on  the  train,  an  acquaintance  of  the 
Count,  amply  repaid  us  for  his  seat  by  vividly  describ- 
ing the  battles  in  and  about  Noyon  where  trenches, 
entanglements,  and  dugouts  were  both  extensive  and 
numerous.  Noyon,  the  birthplace  of  John  Calvin,  was 
in  ruins.  A  beautiful  old  Twelfth  Century  cathedral  was 
about  one-half  destroyed.  So  was  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 

—  208  — 


set  on  fire  by  the  Boche  before  evacuating  the  city, 
another  mute  evidence  of  his  vandalism. 
From  Noyon,  we  proceeded  to  Chauny.  Civilians  were 
here  moved  to  one  part  of  the  city  and  the  balance 
of  the  town  was  destroyed.  A  big  fertilizer  works, 
said  to  be  the  largest  in  Europe,  was  deliberately 
wrecked  so  $** 

From  evidences  still  remaining  it  was  about  the  magni- 
tude of  the  Solvay  Process  works  at  Syracuse.  Through 
Moy  and  Le  Fere  we  went  to  St.  Quentin.  Roads  here 
were  shell  torn  and  mine  rent  with  many  bridges  blown 
up.  Many  times  we  narrowly  missed  automobile  acci- 
dents by  a  hair's  breadth.  Drivers  were  reckless,  with 
utterly  no  regard  for  human  life.  After  my  little  episode 
on  the  road  to  Arras  it  will  be  understood  I  was  a  bit 
nervous  over  wild  automobiling  and  believed  myself 
unduly  timid  until  I  consulted  my  companion,  Rae, 
when  we  were  safely  back  in  the  hotel  in  Paris.  He 
declared,  "  Never  again  for  me.  Several  times  I  thought 
we  were  goners  and  it  will  take  several  weeks  for  me  to 
recover  from  the  bruises  and  bumps  received  when  we 
were  jostled  from  one  side  of  the  car  to  the  other." 
<§  At  St.  Quentin,  we  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing, 
first  hand,  more  evidence  of  Hun  inhumanity  and  lack 
of  respect  for  religion  and  death.  A  former  convent  was 
used  by  the  Boche  as  a  military  hospital  and  is  now 
continued  as  such  by  the  French.  Underneath, 
what  was  the  chapel  when  the  building  was  a  convent, 
is  a  crypt  in  which  were  buried  nuns  who  had  died  in 
the  service  of  the  convent.  The  bodies  were  buried  in 
rows  one  above  the  other,  much  as  they  are  laid  away 
in  vaults.  One  of  these  interstices  was  opened,  the  lid 
of  the  coffin  removed  and  the  body,  or  what  was  left 
of  it — it  having  lain  there  for  sixty  years,  according  to 
the  inscription  on  the  tablet  at  the  head  of  the  casket — 

—  209  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 


9 


World  War  dragged  out  in  a  search  for  copper  or  other  valuable 

At  Its  metal  which  the  Boche  needed.  Burial  of  these  meek 

Climax  anc^  lowly  servants  of  the  Master  was  simple — a  plain 

j    board  box,  tin-  or  zinc-lined,  of  no  account  to  the  ghoulish 

"    Germans.  The  ghouls  had  opened  another  chamber  and 

found  the  same  cheap  make  of  casket.  No  one,  as  a 

war  necessity,  would  have  blamed  them  if  copper  were 

there  to  take  it  away.  But  what  would  any  man  with 

red  blood  in  his  veins  and  a  heart  in  his  breast  have 

done?  Would  n't  he  have  tenderly  put  back  the  remains 

of  these  poor  servants,  who  in  life  thought  only  of  the 

good  of  others,  sealed  up  their  resting  places  and  left 

them  as  if  they  never  had  been  disturbed?  What  did 

these  fiends  do?  On  the  cold  stone  floor  of  the  crypt 

they  left  the  remains  exposed,  skull  bones  and  grave 

clothes,  for  that  is  all  that  remained.  The  words  of  the 

great  Balfour  at  a  dinner  given  us  in  London  two  weeks 

before  came  vividly  into  my  thoughts;   "  Brutes  they 

were  when  the  war  began  and  brutes  they  will  always 

remain."  $+  so. 

Next  we  drove  through  Ham,  Nexler,  Chaulnes, 
Quesenby  and  Roye,  all  showing  the  same  depressing 
desolation  and  devastation,  Montdidier,  of  recent  fame 
because  Americans  so  lately  and  at  fearful  cost  had 
made  a  wonderful  record  there. 

After  one  hundred -forty  miles  along  this  wilderness 
of  ghost-like,  ruined  villages,  our  minds  sickened  from 
the  sights  and  our  bodies  sore  and  lame  from  reckless 
automobile  driving  we  concluded  our  ride  along  the 
British,  American  and  French  fronts,  glad  in  our 
hearts  that  our  inspection  of  scenes  of  devastation 
and  destruction  was  ended. 


—  210 


a 


DQ 


S 

o 


g 

(3 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 


President  Poincare 

Closing  Events  in    Paris    and    a    Return   to  London — Interesting 
Information  Obtained  in  Crossing  the  Channel. 

[E  had  been  told,  on  meeting  them  in 
London  on  their  way  out,  that  our 
predecessors,  the  magazine  editors, 
had  had  one  hundred  twenty-five 
banquets  during  their  stay.  It  was, 
therefore,  our  aim  to  outeat,  as  well 
^s^^idSas  otherwise  outshine  them.  Up  to 
Paris  we  were  ahead  of  their  record.  Our  Paris  hosts 
became  co-conspirators,  determined  that  when  we 
left  France  our  record  should  beat  that  of  the  maga- 
zine men  by  a  big  margin  of  safety. 
There  were  dinners  by  art  societies,  by  the  national 
agricultural  society,  by  officers  of  the  French  Republic, 
dinners  at  the  Grand  Hotel,  at  the  Cafe  de  Paris,  dinners 
to  the  right  of  us,  dinners  to  the  left  of  us,  dinners  all 
'round  us,  by  all  manner  of  social,  literary  and  poli- 
tical organizations,  so  that  when  we  left  Paris  our  dinner 
average  or  record  was  thirty  per  cent  above  that  of 
our  magazine  predecessors. 

We  went  to  Versailles  to  inspect  the  fine,  stately, 
historic  old  palace  in  which  meetings  at  the  time  were 
being  held  to  determine  the  exact  form  of  an  armistice 
the  Allies  would  present  for  Germany's  signature,  a 
few  weeks  later. 

President  Poincare  had  bidden  us  for  an  afternoon, 
adding  that  as  pressing  matters  were  weighing  heavily 

—  211  — 


World  War  upon  him  he  would  much  prefer  to  meet  us  informally 
At  Its  m  tne  President's  mansion,  or  executive  mansion,  as 
Climax  Americans  would  call  it.  It  was  our  last  important 
function  in  Paris.  Before  we  reached  the  inner  chamber 
we  had  passed  through  room  after  room  in  which  were 
generals  seated  at  desks.  It  was  noted  that  most  of 
them  were  old  and  gnarled  and  bronzed.  Our  ushers 
said  all  were  more  than  seventy  years,  some  upwards  of 
eighty,  and  all  had  seen  much  service  and  had  distin- 
guished themselves  on  many  a  battlefield.  Having  done 
their  share  they  were  now  pensioners  of  a  grateful 
government  &+  s» 

President  Poincare  spoke  to  us  for  a  few  minutes  in 
English,  but  as  his  mastery  of  that  tongue  was  not  then 
complete  (it  has  since  been  perfected)  he  continued 
in  French,  which  was  given  to  us  through  an  interpreter. 
Pie  spoke  of  the  undying  love  of  France  for  America, 
which  he  said  antedated  the  visit  of  the  Marquis  de 
Lafayette  to  America.  In  all  the  years  between,  that 
love  had  grown,  had  been  greatly  intensified.  America, 
fighting  side  by  side  with  France  upon  French  soil, was 
a  crowning  glory  for  which,  on  behalf  of  the  Republic 
whose  chief  he  had  the  honor  to  be,  he  wished  to  express 
profound  gratitude.  There  was  no  doubt  whatever 
that  America  with  her  illimitable  resources,  men  and 
money,  was  winning  the  war. 

The  American  soldier  was  paid  a  high  tribute.  We 
should  not,  however,  underestimate  the  strength  of  the 
Prussians.  They  had  put  together  the  most  wicked, 
yet  the  most  powerful  fighting-machine,  trained  for 
deadly  efficiency,  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Used  in 
an  unworthy  cause  it  could  not,  it  must  not,  triumph. 
War  might  not  end  for  a  year,  perhaps  a  year  and  a 
half,  but  end  it  must  eventually  with  Allied  armies 
gloriously  victorious. 

—  212  — 


We  left  Paris  for  London  Monday  night,  November  World  War 
fourth.   Crossing   the    English   channel,  Sir   Campbell  At  Its 
Stuart  whom  we  had  met  in  London  at  all  our  big  CLIMAX 
social  functions,  asked  me  to  share  his  quarters  with    ^ 
him,  as  several  of  our  party  had  become  sea  sick  and    ™ 
he  feared  I  might  be  a  victim,  if  I  remained  with  them. 
Sir   Campbell   was   returning  from   the  conference  at 
Versailles,   where   he  went  with  Viscount  Northcliffe, 
with    whom    he    was    associated.    Since    then    he    has 
become  business  head  of  Viscount  Northcliffe's  vast 
newspaper  and  magazine  publications. 
"  I  tell  you,  O'Hara,  this  damned  thing  will  blow  up 
within  twro  weeks,"  he  said. 

I  called  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  we  had  prac- 
tically just  come  from  President  Poincare,  who  said  war 
would  last  a  year  or  a  year  and  a  half  longer  and  that 
King  George  made  it  longer  still  and  that  Joffre  and 
other  men  of  prominence  had  made  it  much  longer. 
"I  don't  care,"  he  remarked  "just  set  it  down  in 
your  diary  that  I,  Campbell  Stuart,  crossing  the  English 
Channel  on  November  fifth,  1918,  told  Mr.  O'Hara  that 
in  two  weeks  war  would  end." 

As  the  world  knows  now,  Sir  Campbell  was  a  prophet. 
After  all,  this  is  n't  such  a  big  world!  As  we  neared  the 
English  shore  Sir  Campbell  introduced  me  to  a  young  man 
in  an  American  uniform,  rank  of  captain,  who,  Sir 
Campbell  said,  was  a  trusted  Allied  courier  carrying  mes- 
sages between  Paris  and  London  that  were  too  secret 
and  confidential  for  telegraph  or  telephone  or  mail.  He 
was  taking  the  place  of  an  English  officer  who  had 
fallen  ill  of  Spanish  influenza.  Told  by  our  introducer 
that  I  was  one  of  the  party  of  visiting  editors,  the  mes- 
senger inquired  what  State  I  came  from. 
"  New  York  State;  Syracuse." 

"  Why,  that 's  strange,"  he  commented.  "  I  played  foot- 

—  213  — 


World  War  ball  with  your  University,  in  Nineteen  Hundred  Twelve 
At  Its  or  Nineteen  Hundred  Thirteen." 
Climax  ^  recalled  some  of  the  games  of  those  years  and  inquired 
what  position  he  played  on  our  Syracuse  University 
team  so»  && 

'  Oh,  I  did  n't  play  on  your  team — against  your  team. 
I  played  with  the  celebrated  Jim  Thorpe  of  the  Carlisle 
team."  so  s& 

He  was  an  Indian.  Except  for  the  fact  he  wore  his  hair 
pompadour,  a  characteristic  of  his  race,  and,  upon  close 
scrutiny,  there  was  the  Indian  shape  at  the  top  of  the 
head,  one  would  never  suspect  his  race.  He  had 
graduated  with  highest  honors  from  the  Indian  Uni- 
versity at  Carlisle,  Pa. 

I  left  Sir  Campbell-  in  London  at  five  o'clock  that  after- 
noon. Less  than  a  week  later  I  was  one  of  the  joyous 
millions  to  celebrate  the  signing  of  the  Armistice. 


—  214  — 


PART  VI 
I 

Armistice 


Glorious,  Triumphant  Allied 
Demonstration 


General  Smuts  and  Others 
Give  Dinners 


Then  Editorial  Party  Joyfully 
Returns  Home 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 


Uplifted  in  Ecstacy,  the  Old  World  Metropo- 
lis Was  Thrown  Into  a  Great  Tumult 
When  Germany  Yielded 

A  Great  Thrill  and  a  Gripping  Thrall  Seized  London  on  Armistice 
Day — Let  Herself  Loose  in  a  Manner  Hitherto  Unknown  in  the 
Whole  History  of  the  British  Nation. 

[ONDON  had  never  before  beheld,  nor 
will  again  behold,  such  a  day!  British 
calm  and  stolidity  were  smashed  to 
smithereens  in  a  general  paroxysm  of 
joy  following  announcement  that  the 
Armistice  had  been  signed.  A  delirium 
of  delight,  to  reign  uninterruptedly  for 
a  whole  week,  arose  in  this  old  world  metropolis.  It  was 
a  scene  unprecedented  in  the  whole  history  of  the  nation 
and  became  graven  unforgettably  upon  the  memories  of 
seven  million  frantic  humans  who  witnessed  it. 
Premier  Lloyd  George  caused  to  be  bulletined  at  Buck- 
ingham Palace,  a  typewritten  copy  that  hostilities  had 
ceased  and  Armistice  had  been  signed.  Crowds  came 
from  every  angle.  There  were  calls  for  King  George.  In 
the  uniform  of  an  Admiral  he  appeared  upon  the  bal- 
cony. The  Queen,  in  fur  coat,  bareheaded,  was  with  him. 
Then  came  the  Duke  of  Connaught  and  Princess  Mary. 
The  Irish  Guards  band  played  "  Rule  Britannia." 
People  sang  and  waved  flags.  The  King  removed  his  cap 
and  was  cheered  deafeningly.  A  groan  for  the  Kaiser  was 
proposed  and  given.  There  was  a  triumphal  procession 

—  217  — 


I 


World  War  a  little  later,  with  Queen  Mary  and  Princess  Mary 
At  Its  riding  with  the  King.  The  Strand  and  tributary  streets 
Climax  began  to  choke.  Multitudes  assembled  at  Victory 
Memorial,  at  Admiralty  Arch,  at  Ludgate  Circus  and  at 
the  Mansion  House,  where  the  Lord  Mayor,  in  official 
robes  of  black  and  gold,  was  on  hand  to  receive  King 
and  Queen  s«*  s& 

The  Strand,  where  it  ends  at  Trafalgar  Square,  as  soon 
as  the  royal  procession  had  passed,  received  from  con-' 
tributing  streets  an  overwhelming  outpour  until  the 
wonderful  old  thoroughfare  was  filled  to  suffocation 
with  human  flotsam  and  jetsam.  It  seemed  as  if  thou- 
sands must  be  trampled  under  foot  and  crushed  to 
death.  Police  were  powerless  to  stem  the  mighty  human 
tide.  Somehow  or  other,  however,  nothing  serious 
happened  ■&«►  $& 

People  literally  went  wild.  Streets  seethed  with  a  howl- 
ing, happy,  hilarious,  hysterical  mob.  The  Briton  was 
shaken  by  peace  as  he  had  not  been  and  could  never  be 
by  war.  Four  years  of  pent-up  anger  and  subdued 
emotion,  brought  about  by  a  most  wicked  and  awful 
war,  were  forgotten  and  for  once  in  his  life  he  let  him- 
self go  and  gave  way  to  jubilation. 
Barriers  came  down  with  a  crash  and  a  bang.  No 
American  in  any  American  city  could  have  gone  crazier. 
It  was  passing  wonderful  the  shouts  of  the  multitudes 
as  they  sought  to  force  themselves  through  the  stifling, 
choked  streets  in  a  wild,  triumphal  rout  of  victory. 
When  at  ten  o'clock  guns  boomed  the  announcement; 
waiters,  chambermaids,  guests,  bell  boys  all  rushed  like 
mad  out  of  hotels.  Clerks,  janitors,  shopkeepers  dashed 
out  of  shops,  owners  or  managers  being  left  quickly 
alone  in  sole  possession  of  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of 
merchandise  unprotected  and  exposed  from  the  streets 
through  open,  wide  flung  doors.   Women  in  munition 

—  218  — 


plants  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city  threw  down  their  World  War 
work.  Everybody  who  was  doing  anything  just  threw  At  Its 
it  into  the  air  and  sprang  for  the  street,  where  all  joined  Climax 
the  singing,  shouting  throngs  that  surged  up  and  down.    ^ 
All  work  was  suspended,  including  public  business,  and    * 
London  gave  itself  up  wholeheartedly  and  unrestrain- 
edly to  rejoicing. 

Most  wonderful  of  it  all  were  the  women.  Thousands 
upon  thousands  of  them  rapidly  filled  the  streets  like  a 
torrent.  They  captured  and  commandeered  tram  cars, 
taxis  and  other  vehicles  of  all  descriptions,  upon  which 
they  piled  in  unbelievable  numbers. 
Police  authorities  were  swept  aside.  The  London 
"  Bobby  "  stood  stunned,  while  women  sat  in  human 
pyramids  upon  tops  of  automobiles,  upon  radiators  and 
upon  mudguards.  They  clung  to  steps  and  footboards, 
they  jammed  streets,  they  laughed  and  screamed  and 
sang,  wept  with  joy. 

For  four  years  they  had  "  carried  on,"  as  the  British 
say,  but  when  the  end  came  at  last  and  victory  was  won 
thev  broke  s«*  $& 

For  davs  the  nation's  nerve  had  been  taut  and  while  the 
Armistice  hung  fire  the  tension  wras  terrific.  Saturday 
and  Sunday  before  the  end  on  Monday,  from  all  prov- 
inces people  poured  into  London  until  standing  room 
was  at  a  premium.  Thousands  were  unable  to  find  beds 
or  to  get  into  hotels  or  boarding  houses.  Thousands 
camped  throughout  the  night  on  the  Thames  Embank- 
ment and  waited  for  the  hour  to  strike,  and  when  it 
struck,  London,  for  the  first  time  in  its  history,  gave 
completely  awray  to  emotion. 

Girls  of  high  degree  and  girls  of  low  degree  joined  like 
sisters.  All  class  distinctions  were  swept  aside  in  the 
joyous  flood.  Women  flung  their  arms  unreservedly 
about  the  necks  of  anv  man  who  wore  khaki,  it  made  no 

—  ^19  — 


World  War  difference  whether  he  was  an  officer  or  a  private. 
At  Its  A  girl  in  the  uniform  of  a  Savoy  chambermaid  leaped 
Climax  uPon  the  f°°t  board  of  a  car  in  which  rode  a  staff 
\    general  and  hugged  him,  and  the  staff  general  laughed 
*    with  glee  and  patted  her  cheeks  and  squeezed  her  hands. 
1§  British  captains  and  British  majors  lost  that  haughty 
stare  and  became  boys,  laughing,  happy  boys. 
The  city  literally  blazed  with  flags.  The  British  Union 
Jack,  of  course,  predominated,  but  up  and  down  the 
Strand  were  hundreds  of  American  soldiers,  and  Ameri- 
can civilians  including  the  twelve  American  publishers, 
guests  of  the  British  government,  joining  in  the  big 
celebration,    waving    the    Star-Spangled    Banner    and 
shouting  with  the  Britons. 

Everybody  loved  everybody  else.  WTherever  you  looked 
you  got  an  answering  laugh  and  a  whole-hearted 
response,  and  the  crushing  masses  of  humanity  on  the 
streets  and  in  the  hotels,  were  for  the  time  being,  all 
brothers  and  sisters. 

It  made  no  difference  whether  you  were  English, 
American,  French  or  Italian.  For  once  the  Briton  threw 
aside  his  stolid  calm. 

Far  down  the  Strand,  where  stands  England's  great 
established  [church,  when  its  rector  could  collect 
his  wits  after  his  first  big  shock  of  surprise,  silver  chimes 
pealed  forth  the  glad  tidings  that  war  was  at  an  end. 
Almost  directly  across  this  main  thoroughfare  of  London, 
in  a  beautiful  old  Catholic  cathedral,  bells  rang  out  in 
unison  in  wonderful  public  paeans  of  joy  and  exultation, 
while  within  the  walls  of  these  sacred  edifices,  services 
of  prayer  and  thanksgiving  in  the  one  instance  and 
simultaneously  jubilee  masses  were  chanted  in  the  other 
throughout  the  livelong  day.  It  was  indeed  a  most 
solemn,  inspiring  and  impressive  example  of  a  nation's 
recognition  of  God. 

—  220  — 


The  day  was  the  greatest,  the  most  joyful,  the  most  World  War 
wonderful,  London  had  ever  known.  All  day  pandemo-  At  Its 
nium  kept  up.  For  the  first  time  in  four  years,  freed  from  Climax 
fear  of  air  raids,  London  drew  back  its  blinds  at  night    ^ 
and  turned  on  its  lights.  The  inky  blackness  of  the    • 
streets   disappeared   and   pent-up   feelings   of   a  great 
nation,  that  had  suffered  terribly  and  fought  splendidly 
to  a  victorious  finish,  were  released  and  swept  every- 
thing before  them. 


—  221  — 


jFURNISH    ON 


i  msau  nrnn 


GRESHAM'eyS£^!SS 

are.  hmm  «t-  ih*;joii[i  tie. 
a*.a*ay»  igg  iml.  iionoM.w<tt. 


m 


LUNCH 
EDN. 


L_e 


JJOVDOA.    Mf'M'AT.    FOVtMfilB    U.     UU. 


051    P8SST 


The     Eleventh     Hour ! 


NEW  PEACE  DELEGATES 

ON  THE  WAY 


Time  for  Acceptance  Expired 
at  11  a.m.  To-day. 


EXTENSION  MAY  BE  ASKED. 


JT  becamea  apparent  tbit  the  nshesweJ  l»  German*    which    baa 
foDowad  the  ebdicetioo  ud  the  •rUlng  Bp  of  ihe  new   farm   ol 
Government    bu    introduced  conpUeatioH  which  wiD  d*Jav  the 
trmjuu  n*fo*j*l*ons.  and  out?  tfU  reqoaet  u  titauloo  of  the 
tint  Mtfbufl  j  flies'. 
"Vhen  delivering  toe  term*  to  the  German  delegate*  MatUjal   Focb 
elated  that  the  time  allowed  for  the  acceptance  of  thrio  woa'd 
*rTpJra  u  11  o'clock  this  forenoon  (French  time) . 
»£Eoce  then  there  btM  been  nrv-ipected1  delay*.     The  German  courier; 
were  beiJ  up  oo  their  rel'.'ro  to  their  ova  headquarters  *  nb  Uia 
official  Dote  of  the  term*,  and  oo  their  imvil  there    the     new 
Chancellor  Ebert  eer nn  (O  have  do  id*wT  that  another  tti  ol  Coov 
mia&anea  would  be  needed  to  -  oMuct  the  rtegotiatioos 
31  Central  Newt  telrgrarr  from  Angler  Jam  tfatct)  ufejw*  Dr.'*tfbfr,  Ton 
W»h*»*a,  arrroo  Dbibnci  bar*  left  Berlin  for  Headquarter^. 


NO  ARMISTICE  YET. 

0*1*7      Owe     «e     »•    Ur****el 

tenrinay, 

paiuj.  ShtxTir 

(lUealTCa  te-aej  ) 

II   •   fMibl*  lb*l  0»    lfioni    of    i 

4*u>r  caoeed  hj  n«t»n.l  t>rti«B*U/i  *j» 
is    lh*    Otrau   mvmn    joora.. 
pnicd  «l  I*  ko*r*  U«)  tot  ttW  rtvlT  to 
tW       m-»i*w»      o«Kj.t>"- 
■dear 


PARIS  ON  TTJPTOE. 

Cain*  •'<   C&»fldwit   CrWei  Aviil   im 
Arrival  el  ih»  N*wa 

PABJ?.  Suad' 

iRftMlMrJ  lo-r*v'   ' 
Ai    tW   axtnuot    ef   tr 

•*e>   P»rk    va>u   *H< 
kBMHMM  ie>  a- 


HOHENZOLLERNS 

IN  EXILE. 


Kaiser**      Flight 
Holland. 


to 


VILLA  tkNTINCK  AS  A 
HAVEN. 


UClf  »«*  torn  jaiH  */  lA*  «  ■  K  run 

«*4    TuyamUy  ihn    Pm**   M. 

•Wvln/Ud  tfc*   imrU  .-.  J*f«r#V 

It  a,  Kauf'tr.  [Uo  1A*j(  »M  ' 

laiuluar*  (*  HoUeo4,  «r 

•««•  rthrt  to  tk*  ruU 

fX,  obi " '  */  **»  /trrl  f 

fl.ffc/. 
inflrJn-  I'lra***.  flejM 

n.inpi  ■■■,'    lt|i   (lU  4* 

ihr  f.'iiif  m  to  m> 

ii  yrr  ('■  '.  j  ■  '«■'■! 
farVnirawi 
I.    <  ,.    rift**, 

.'<       flU    -    ' 

THE  I' 


GERMANY  FOLLOWS  RUSSIA. 


SOVIETS     RULE    THE 
COUNTRY. 

AMY  MfST  OBEY. 


SOUDiERS   DISARMED   IN 
THE  STRESTS. 


SOLDIERS  DISARMED. 

Scrioau  RJotixtfl  Reported  froai 
Eauncrich. 


AklRTERfiAJf.  I 

The  -fi»i.  ,«i.  VoLkMaraaf"  »►» 
i«TV  ui»t  *i  Colors*  ta«  l»»  Ojw« 
aaweai  «*r*  ni-.-g'&^i  «■■  ta«  ■**•** 


Insert  below  shows  extract  from  inside 
page  of  London  Star 


r* 


I? 


ins; 


Si 


L*r  ■£.«       Jet:     a^~"r?S. 

JltlSall  **!  HI-IImI 


ARMISTICE  SK3KED 
TODAY* 

T»»  Maw  HMMr  (fetal  a  164* 


To.  inulrtt.  w««lut  U  t  »M. 


;isji»    «K.-MKt> 


PULL  DETAILS  OF  SURRENDBJ 


* 


^  THE  SYRACUSE  HERALD  If 


I  Om  F .it*  ■  i  -  i>. 


pjua  two  czjtts     ■.«!-  *«-  w  »■*» 


•  -SIXTEEN   PACC5~>2S  Clw 


PRICE  TWO  CtKTS 


PRESIDENT  WILSON 
PROCLAIMS  PEACE 

"'  4 " ~ 

Washington,  Nov.  11. — President  Wilson  issued  a  formal  proclamation  at  10  o'clock  this  morning  any 
noujicing  that  the  armistice  with  Germany  had  been  signed. 

The  proclamation  follows: 

"My  Fellow  Countrymen— The  armistice  was  signed  this  morning.  Everything  for  which  America  fought 
lias  been  accomplished.-  It  will  now  be  our  fortunate  duty  to  assist  by  example,  by  sober  friendly  counsel  and 
py  material  aid  in  the  establishment  of  just  democracy  throughout  the  world.  WOODROW  WILSON." 


mm  SUNDERS  UNO 
THE  WORLD  Wflfl  13  OVER 

VaafcjfWa,  pm   u      (V  .-wV  — -*  —  *•*  ->  *  '■**   ■  **■ 
*-»*«*»■  ni..l»»  tamr  ■ 


"Everylhlnf  For  Which  Wc  Foujhl  Has  B«n  Accomplished1' 


t»aBr>y>»*«J  U  •>  O-r-MT  —  rfia.  I.-    .r- 

f"   A*  ■»  '  TlU^i  *r»n  •*  —  m»M  u-  .  — 
WarMasias 

Tki*MlmiMU  -^  y  —■■»«■■  -  w  a**H 


WILSON  6IVES  CONGRESS  THE  TERMS 
OF  GERMANY'S  COMPLETE  SURRENDER 


II  «  .  <!»» 


|  »..►  .V.     It  — Pr».d.i«  W,l^,«#rc..  i.tS.  C.p.H 

ikf-..  I1,  tdvru  (hi.M|*4  wrtb  (k«™(  p»epl.      H.I..4  U\.  imMil  tfw  uiul« 
•ilhCuiriui  uConrmsl  1  .<l«b  lh„  .p......  .. 

A.iunb'fd  in  0>*  KtJI  •(  IK*  Hoo...  wh<r*  xnntH  nvirh.  •,•  VMm 
.nil  Ri^HnUI.<n  i>»r4  (h.  Prwdrnl  ..k  lor  (►.  ifHlw.lutrt  •/  .u  A** 
lew*.,  1...,  J  k™  ip...  U\.  -t'd.   -I.-N     '  ...     1.   '  ll.      .  .      ..,   ,|  ,_.,. 


MEN  NOT  DfllAHD    | 

i  ARENOtt  DISCHARGED  i 


Here  Are  ihe  Terms 


Two  Newspapers  on  Armistice  Day 


CHAPTER   XL 


Hero  of  Boer  War 

A  Statesman  as  Well  as  a  Soldier,  Was  of  Great  Aid  to  England, 
Especially  in  Last  Three  Years  of  War. 

HREE  nights  after  the  Armistice,  Right 
Hon.  J.  T.  Smuts  added  one  more  to 
the  one  hundred  twenty  and  odd  din- 
ners given  us.  Although  last,  it  by  no 
means  was  least,  a  signal  honor  we 
fully  appreciated.  General  Smuts,  hero 
of  the  Boer  war,  chairman  of  England's 
War  board,  diplomat,  high  in  Great  Britain's  councils, 
was  the  man  afterward  credited  with  having  drawn 
England's  peace  terms  for  the  Versailles  conference.  He 
proved  a  most  congenial  host.  This  social  function  at 
the  Savoy  that  evening  stands  out  in  my  memory.  The 
whole  affair  was  as  democratic  and  informal  as  it  was 
gracious  and  genuine.  It  consisted  of  a  heart  to  heart 
talk  with  a  bunch  of  newspaper  publishers,  who  were 
charmed  with  his  brilliancy,  his  candor,  his  sincerity 
and  his  apparent  desire,  now  that  war  was  over,  to  repeat 
for  all  the  nations  of  the  world  some  of  the  wonderful 
achievements  which  he  had  accomplished  for  his  South 
African  republic. 

Although  much  of  his  excellent  speech  bore  upon  the 
League  of  Nations,  (with  which  later  he  had  so  much  to 
do),  it  is  such  a  classic  document  it  is  herewith  repro- 
duced in  its  entirety: 

'  Let  me  congratulate  you  on  your  good  fortune  in 
being  here  on  this  supreme  occasion.  I  am  glad  that  I 

—  223  — 


World  War  have  been  privileged  to  be  in  this  country  at  the  coming 

At  Its  °f  peace  and  to  see  the  temper  and  behavior  of  this 

Climax  Sreat  Pe°ple  at  such  a  time.  Remember  that  this  people 

L    has  borne  unexampled  burdens  for  nearly  four  and  a 

*    half  years.  They  have  striven  and  fought  and  labored 

in  a  war  effort  which  has  no  parallel  in  history.  They 

have  suffered  in  body  and  soul.  The  iron  has  gone  into 

their  soul.  And  today  you  see  them  rejoicing  in  the  same 

great    spirit    in    which    they    have    labored    and 

suffered  so  s* 

"  Not  a  tinge  of  bitterness  or  vindictiveness  mars  their 
rejoicings.  In  this  solemn  hour  of  joy  and  gratitude  all 
the  bitterness  of  the  past  has  died  out  of  their  hearts. 
No  hymns  of  hate,  no  trampling  on  a  prostrate  foe. 
"  It  is  not  merely  their  sportsmanlike  spirit,  which  has 
seen  them  through  the  darkest  hours  of  this  war,  but 
it  is  more  especially  that  depth  and  breadth  and  sanity 
of  human  nature  which  shines  through  their  history  as 
it  shines  through  the  plays  of  Shakespeare.  I  have  had 
my  little  differences  with  the  British  people  as  you 
have  had  yours;  but  let  us  freely  and  frankly  admit 
that  they  are  a  great  people,  and  their  sanity  and  free- 
dom from  petty  vindictiveness  are  not  the  least  of  their 
great  qualities. 

"  What  an  aw^f  ul  doom  has  come  over  Germany !  The 
terribleness  and  fearfulness  of  her  tragedy  is  enough  to 
purge  our  souls  of  all  petty  and  selfish  feelings.  What  a 
price  she  has  paid  for  her  ambitions  and  her  crimes! 
World  power  or  downfall !  It  has,  indeed,  been  downfall, 
but  what  a  fall  was  there !  It  is  the  most  awful  lesson  of 
history.  May  its  warning  beacon  light  blaze  into  the 
most  distant  future  of  the  world.  This  is  what  we  have 
fought  for — that  the  fate  of  Prussian  militarism  might 
be  the  most  awful  and  solemn  judgment  of  history.  And 
now  that  the  task  is  done,  let  our  thoughts  turn  away 

—  224  — 


from  destruction  and  punishment  to  the  great  creative  World  War 
tasks  ahead  of  us.  At  Its 

"  It  all  depends  on  the  spirit  in  which  we  approach  the  cLIMAX 
great  work  ahead  of  us.  The  English  people  and  their  „ 
partners  in  the  British  Empire  entered  into  this  war  in  " 
a  spirit  of  exalted  moral  idealism.  To  defend  the  small 
and  wTeak,  to  champion  the  public  laws  of  Europe,  to 
establish  freedom;  such  were  the  avowed  objects  with 
which  we  went  to  war  in  August,  Nineteen  Hundred 
Fourteen.  And  when  the  great  American  republic  joined 
us  in  the  titanic  struggle  it  was  not  only  with  material 
weapons,  but  with  all  that  moral  reinforcement  which 
came  from  the  splendid  vision  and  moral  enthusiasm  of 
President  Wilson,  speaking  on  behalf  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States.  His  was  the  great  vision  of  a  league 
of  nations  and  of  world  organization  against  reaction 
and  militarism  in  future.  The  world  had  to  be  made  safe 
for  democracy  in  a  great  organization  which  would  be 
strong  enough  to  guarantee  the  future  peace  and  free- 
dom of  the  world.  It  is  this  moral  idealism  and  this 
vision  of  a  better  world  which  has  upborne  us  through 
the  dark  night  of  this  war. 

"  Through  all  its  ups  and  down,  its  awful  setbacks,  its 
harrowing  alternations  of  hope  and  fear,  we  drew 
strength  and  courage  from  the  cause  for  which  we  were 
fighting  and  the  great  hope  for  the  future.  And  now  that 
the  victory  has  been  won,  it  is  alike  our  duty  and  our 
interest  to  remain  faithful  to  that  cause  and  that  hope; 
to  see  that  our  victory  does  not  merely  end  with  the 
downfall  of  Prussian  militarism,  but  that  the  organiza- 
tion be  established  which  will  secure  us  against  a  recur- 
rence of  such  disasters  in  future.  We  entered  into  this 
struggle  and  persevered  to  the  end  because  we  were 
profoundly  convinced  that  the  fate  of  Europe  and  the 
future  of  the  world  were  at  stake,  and  the  same  convic- 

—  225  — 


World  War  tions  brought  America  into  the  war  in  spite  of  her 
At  Its  Monroe   Doctrine   and   the   most   cherished   historical 
Ct  imax  traditions.  And  for  the  present  and  the  future,  just  as 
much  as  in  the  past,  our  main  concern  and  preoccupa- 
tion must  be  the  saving  of  Europe  for  the  future  of  the 
world  s&  s& 

'  Her  position  and  condition  today  are  tragic  in  the 
extreme.  The  exhaustion  and  sufferings  of  the  war  have 
reduced  her  to  a  state  which  can  not  but  cause  the 
gravest  concern  to  all  thoughtful  people.  I  fear  Germany 
has  bulked  too  largely  with  us.  Do  not  let  us  fix  our 
gaze  too  exclusively  on  Germany  at  the  present  time. 
The  dimensions  of  this  great  tragedy  go  far  beyond 
Germany.  In  this  solemn  hour  let  us  think  rather  of 
Europe,  of  broken  and  bleeding  Europe,  the  mother  of 
our  common  civilization.  The  organism  of  civilization 
can  only  bear  a  certain  strain,  and  I  sometimes  fear  the 
strain  which  has  been  put  on  it  by  this  war  has  brought 
it  perilously  near  the  snapping  point.  The  loss  of  life  and 
property,  the  mental  and  physical  agony,  the  accumu- 
lated effect  of  years  of  under-feeding  or  downright 
hunger — all  these  and  more — have  combined  to  pro- 
duce a  state  of  affairs  closely  bordering  on  the  dissolu- 
tion of  corporate  state  organization. 
'  The  indescribable  conditions  of  Russia  are  rapidly 
spreading  to  Austria.  In  Germany,  too,  the  danger 
signals  are  up,  while  in  some  of  the  small  neutral 
neighboring  states  the  situation  is  causing  grave  con- 
cern. It  is  not  merely  that  thrones  and  empires  are  fall- 
ing and  ancient  institutions  suddenly  collapsing;  a 
whole  world  order  is  visibly  passing  away  before  our 
eyes.  And  the  danger  is  that  things  may  go  too  far  and 
a  setback  be  given  to  Europe  from  which  she  will  not 
recover  for  generations.  The  evils  bred  by  hunger 
threaten  not  merely  old  institutions,  but  civilization  as 

—  226  — 


such.  In  this  hour  of  victory,  which  was  given  us  for  World  War 
great  opportunity,  we  can  not  look  on  unmoved  at  the  At  Its 
tragic  and  pitiable  situation.  We  have  saved  the  soul  of  Climax 
civilization;  let  us  now  proceed  to  care  for  its  sick  body,  * 
As  we  have  organized  the  world  for  victory,  let  us  now  * 
organize  the  world  against  hunger.  That  would  be  the 
best  way  to  bind  the  wounds  of  the  nations  and  to  pre- 
pare them  for  the  new  order  of  international  good  feel- 
ing and  co-operation.  Not  only  the  liberated  territories 
of  our  Allies,  not  only  our  small  neutral  neighbors,  but 
the  enemy  countries  themselves  require  our  helping 
hand.  Let  us  extend  it  in  all  generosity  and  magnanim- 
ity. The  very  idea  of  organizing  the  food  supply  for 
the  lands  will  help  to  purify  and  sweeten  the  atmosphere 
which  has  been  cursed  with  war,  hate  and  untruth.  It 
would  all  have  been  so  much  easier  if  Germany  had  put 
up  a  clean  fight,  and  had  not  stained  her  hands  in  such 
crimes.  But  even  so,  we  have  to  be  influenced  by  larger 
considerations.  We  must  try  to  save  what  can  still  be 
saved  from  the  wreck  of  Europe  and  prepare  the  nations 
for  the  better  order  for  which  so  much  has  already  been 
spent.  In  this  great  crisis  we  are  not  merely  Englishmen 
or  Americans;  we  feel  the  call  of  a  common  humanity, 
the  pull  of  those  simple  human  feelings  which  alone  can 
heal  the  deep  wounds  which  have  been  inflicted  on  the 
body  of  civilization. 

"It  is  interesting  to  consider  what  influence  this  state 
of  the  continent  of  Europe  will  and  must  have  on 
President  Wilson's  program  for  a  league  of  nations  for 
world  peace.  Although  the  idea  of  a  league  of  nations 
has  been  universally  welcomed,  especially  in  America 
and  in  this  country,  and  opinion  in  favor  of  its  practi- 
cability has  been  making  rapid  progress,  still  it  must  be 
admitted  that  it  has  been  looked  upon  more  as  an  ideal 
than  a  practical  measure.  Among  hard-headed  politic- 

—  227  — 


* 


World  War  ians  and  European  diplomatists  I  fear  there  has  been  a 
At  Its  tendency  to  look  upon  the  idea  with  a  good  deal  of 
Climax  reserve  and  even  skepticism  as  Utopian  and  not  suited 
to  existing  conditions  of  European  politics. 
"  This  has  largely  been  due  to  the  fact  that  the  function 
hitherto  assigned  to  the  league  of  nations,  namely,  that 
of  preserving  world  peace,  was  looked  upon  as  a  vain 
aspiration  on  the  ground  that,  human  nature  being 
what  it  is,  the  prevention  of  all  wars  would  be  impos- 
sible. It  is,  of  course,  admitted  that  the  prevention  of 
wars  and  curbing  of  extreme  national  passions  is  the 
most  difficult  function  which  could  be  intrusted  to  the 
league.  But  it  was  not  recognized  that  other  more 
practicable  functions  might  soon  have  to  be  discharged 
by  it.  The  situation  which  has  arisen  on  the  continent 
has  suddenly  changed  all  this  and  it  is  rapidly  being 
recognized  that  a  league  of  nations  has  become  a  neces- 
sary link  in  the  chain  of  European  policy. 
'  In  the  first  place,  it  will  be  necessary  immediately  to 
create  what  I  have  called  the  organization  against 
hunger,  and  to  ration  all  those  countries  where  condi- 
tions of  food  shortage  threaten  disaster.  The  existing 
inter- Ally  machinery,  which  is  the  nucleus  of  the  league 
of  nations,  will  probably  undertake  this  task  in  the  first 
instance.  Moreover,  during  the  period  of  economic  recon- 
struction after  the  war,  when  there  will  be  a  shortage 
of  many  essential  raw  materials,  the  Allies,  as  well  as 
former  neutral  and  enemy  countries,  will  have  to  be 
rationed.  For  this  purpose  again  the  creation  of  inter- 
national machinery  will  be  necessary.  It  is  thus  clear 
that  we  are  making  straight  for  a  league  of  nations 
which  will  be  charged  with  the  performance  of  these 
essential  international  functions.  For  these  important 
purposes  a  league  of  nations  is  no  longer  an  ideal  for 
an  aspiration,  but  a  sheer  practical  necessity.  But  there 

—  228  — 


is  more,  and  here  we  come  to  the  function  originally  World  War 
intended  for  the  league.  At  Its 

"  It  is  more  than  probable  that  the  future  map  of  Europe  Climax 
will  look  very  different  from  the  pre-war  map.  Most  of    g 
the  nations  of  the  continent  have  hitherto  been  grouped    * 
into  great  states  or  powers  to  whom  they  have  belonged. 
A  fundamental  change  is  coming  over  the  situation. 
Russia  has  already  broken  up,  and  it  is  most  unlikely 
that  the  western  border  nations   which  have  broken 
away  from  her  will  ever  return.  Austria,  again,  has  in 
the  past  held  together  a  veritable  medley  of  nations 
and  races,  and  has  with  some  degree  of  success,  although 
not   without   grave  political   friction,   kept   the  peace 
among  them.  Austria  is  also  being  dissolved  into  her 
original  elements,  and  there  seems  little  prospect  of 
arresting  this  process  before  she  has  completely  dis- 
appeared &*>  SO 

"  What  will  happen  to  Germany  it  is  more  difficult  to 
foretell,  though  it  is  possible  that  the  great  racial 
homogeneity  and  the  education  and  political  discipline 
of  Germany  will  in  the  end  keep  her  from  disintegration. 
In  any  case,  we  shall  have  to  face  a  new  situation  in 
Europe.  From  Finland  in  the  north  to  Constantinople 
in  the  south,  the  map  of  Europe  will  be  covered  with 
small  nations,  mostly  untrained  in  habits  of  self-govern- 
ment, some  having  suffered  political  shipwreck  on  that 
account  and  divided  from  each  other  by  profound 
national  or  racial  prejudices  and  antipathies.  In  most 
there  is  a  resolute  minority  of  alien  race  making  for 
internal  weakness.  If  we  may  draw  any  inference  from 
our  experience  in  the  Balkans,  we  may  expect  a  much 
more  disturbed  state  in  the  future  Europe  and  more 
dangers  of  wars  than  we  have  had  in  the  past.  Already 
some  of  them  are  threatened  with  internal  disorders. 
1f  "  It  becomes,  therefore,  imperative  to  create  an  inter- 

—  229  — 


World  War  national  organization  which  will,  to  some  extent,  take 
At  Its  the  place  of  the  great  powers  which  have  disappeared, 
Climax  ano*  keep  the  peace  among  these  smaller  states,  even  if 
&  it  is  not  necessary  to  supervise  their  internal  policies. 
*  The  league  of  nations  is  no  longer  an  idea  in  cloudland, 
but  will  soon  be  recognized  as  a  necessary  organ  of 
future  European  government.  And  in  discharging  the 
functions  here  referred  to,  it  will  develop  vitality;  it 
will  take  root  and  grow;  it  will  be  seen  to  be  a  beneficent 
institution;  a  great  volume  of  public  opinion  will 
gradually  gather  round  it,  and  it  will  eventually  become 
strong  enough  to  essay  that  supreme  task  of  preserving 
world  peace  for  which  it  was  originally  intended.  It  will 
stand  out  as  the  greatest  creative  effort  of  the  human 
race  in  the  sphere  of  political  government,  and  will 
then  be  seen  to  have  justified  all  the  losses  and  suffer- 
ings of  this  greatest  tragedy  in  history. 
'  In  the  meantime  the  league  will  probably  be  found 
useful  in  solving  other  problems  with  which  the  world 
will  be  confronted.  Hitherto,  where  all  states  have  been 
equals  and  principals,  it  has  been  difficult  to  have 
recourse  to  the  very  useful  idea  of  international  agency. 
But  when  the  league  is  established,  it  is  very  likely  that 
it  will,  in  a  proper  case,  depute  some  particular  state 
to  act  on  its  behalf.  Thus  America  might  be  asked  to 
act,  say,  in  some  offshoot  from  the  Turkish  or  Russian 
Empire,  not  in  her  own  right,  but  as  the  mandatory 
and  on  behalf  of  the  league  of  nations,  who  will  give 
her  general  directions.  Or  take  again  the  case  of  the 
former  German  colonies.  Some  of  these  colonies  are 
quite  fairly  and  properly  claimed  and  will  have  to  be 
given  to  the  British  dominions  which  conquered  them 
and  for  whose  future  development  or  security  they  are 
necessary.  But  it  is  conceivable  that  there  are  colonies 
which  are  not  so  claimed.  The  Allies  which  have  con- 

—  230  — 


quered  and  now  hold  them  will  resist  to  the  utmost 
their  restoration  to  Germany,  as  they  can  not  foresee 
what  course  the  future  development  of  Germany  might 
take.  In  such  cases  these  powers  could  be  deputed  to 
hold  these  colonies,  not,  however,  in  their  own  right, 
but  as  mandatories  of  the  league,  until  the  question  of 
their  ultimate  disposal  is  settled  in  the  future.  Some 
other  very  knotty  territorial  problems  could  be  settled, 
or,  at  any  rate,  deferred  in  the  same  way.  And  it  will 
probably  be  found  at  the  Peace  Congress,  which  will 
eventually  deal  with  these  questions,  that  the  league 
of  nations  will  be  a  necessary  and  indispensable  solvent 
of  some  of  our  gravest  international  problems. 

'  The  international  state  of  affairs  which  has  resulted 
from  this  war  calls  for  a  great  move  forward  in  the 
political  organization  of  the  world.  The  great  war  was 
.  probably  as  much  the  result  of  outworn  international 
law  and  organization  as  of  German  imperial  ambitions. 
The  task  will  be  as  difficult  as  it  is  great.  But  where 
America  joins  hands  with  Europe  and  the  British 
Empire  in  attempting  to  solve  it,  I  have  no  doubt  that 
a  solution  will  be  found.  And  thus  from  the  fluid  results 
of  this  war  we  shall  create  the  stable  political  forms 
which  will  hold  the  progress  of  the  race  in  the  coming 
ages  s«*  s^ 

*  This  war  has  shattered  to  its  foundations  the  old 
immobile  world.  Things  are  fluid  and  plastic  once  more 
and  capable  of  receiving  a  new  creative  impression. 
What  impression  shall  it  be?  It  is  for  us  to  labor  in  the 
remaking  of  that  world  to  better  ends,  to  plan  its 
international  reorganization  on  lines  of  universal  free- 
dom and  justice,  and  to  re-establish  among  the  classes 
and  the  nations  that  good-will  which  is  the  only  sure 
foundation  for  any  enduring  international  system.  Let 
us  not  underrate  our  opportunity.  The  age  of  miracles 

—  231  — 


World  War 
At  Its 
Climax 


to 


World  War  is  never  past.  The  greatest  experience  of  my  life  has 
At  Its  been  to  witness  how,  in  my  own  country,  a  policy  of 
Climax  conciliation  and  trust  re-created  a  land  broken  by  war, 
and  healed  wounds  and  wrongs  of  a  very  dangerous 
character.  The  history  of  South  Africa  since  the  Boer 
War  bears  immortal  testimony  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
policy  of  conciliation.  If  the  victors  in  this  greatest  of 
wars  approach  the  great  problems  before  them  in  the 
same  large  temper  in  which  this  country  acted  on  that 
occasion,  I  have  hope  that  the  bitterness  of  this  war 
may  yet  lead  to  a  great  reconciliation  of  the  peoples 
in  the  future  and  perhaps  even  to  the  disappearance 
of  war  itself." 


—  232  — 


Part  VII 
t 

Home  Again 


Nothing  Would  Tempt  the  Editors 
to  Endure  the  Fatigues  and  Hard- 
ships of  Another  Such  a  Trip 


Its  Compensations  However  the 

Greatest  of  Any  in  All 

Their  Lives 


CHAPTER  XLI 


Homeward  Bound 

Submarines  Withdrawn  and  Ocean  Lighted  at  Night  and  the  Great 
Transformation  was  Complete. 

[ONDON  still  bubbled  with  joy  and 
seethed  with  excitement  over  a  con- 
cluded and  signed  armistice  when,  late 
Friday  afternoon,  November  Fifteenth, 
we  bade  her  a  fond  farewell  and  trek- 
ked our  way  homeward.  Our  official 
hosts  accompanied  us  to  Liverpool, 
where  next  day  they  took  leave  of  us  aboard  ship.  In 
marked  contrast  with  our  outbound  accommodations 
were  those  returning.  Balmoral  Castle,  a  commodious 
and  comfortable  first-class  steamer,  whose  regular  route 
was  between  The  Transvaal  and  Congo  Free  States  and 
England,  was  chosen  for  it.  It  had  been  our  unique, 
melancholy  distinction  to  go  over  in  a  convoy,  the  only 
one  to  lose  a  vessel  in  a  storm,  and  now  we  were  return- 
ing on  the  first  boat  in  three  years  to  carry  mail  and 
passengers  s&  &t> 

In  midocean  we  met  a  large  steamer  agleam  from  water's 
edge  to  topmast.  It  was  a  most  joyous  sight,  welcomed 
with  whistling,  loud  and  long.  Our  ship's  officers  said  it 
was  the  first  lighted  vessel  they  had  seen  on  the  ocean 
in  four  years.  Our  own  boat  was  inky  black,  not  a  light 
displayed  anywhere.  Shutters  went  up  and  lights  were 
capped  at  four  thirty  o'clock  as  usual.  The  Briton  did 
not  know,  officially,  armistice  had  been  signed  and  con- 
tinued   war    usages    until    he    returned    to    Liverpool. 

—  235  — 


World  War  Before   quitting   London   we   were   positively   assured 
At  Its  upon  high  governmental  authority  that  so  exact  and 
P  marvellous  was  Germany's  knowledge  of  the  where- 

^  abouts  of  its  underseas  navy  that  within  twenty-four 
*  hours  after  the  armistice  was  signed,  every  submarine 
was  fished  out  of  the  sea.  It  was  glorious  news  to  us  that 
these  demons  of  the  deep  were  to  be  no  longer  a  menace 
or  a  peril.  One  day  out,  we  came  upon  fleets  of  trawlers 
sweeping  the  seas  for  floating  mines. 
Leaving  dock  at  Liverpool  we  discovered  a  young  man 
who  was  a  mysterious  fellow  passenger  on  the  way  over. 
Armistice  being  signed  his  lips  were  no  longer  sealed 
and  he  revealed  to  us  that  he  had  been  sent  abroad  by 
our  federal  government  to  make  highly  important 
experiments  to  detect  the  presence  of  submarines,  locate 
them  with  precision,  and  practically  to  transmit  radio- 
grams underseas.  It  was  believed  the  new  discovery 
would  completely  nullify  if  not  entirely  stamp  out  sub- 
marine warfare.  Experiments  were  satisfactory,  so  far 
as  they  went,  but  time  and  a  number  of  important 
changes,  it  was  said,  must  follow  before  a  full  fruition 
resulted  s*  $& 

Congressman  Byrne,  of  South  Carolina,  who,  with 
Carter  Glass,  afterward  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of 
the  United  States,  had  been  sent  across  by  President 
Wilson  on  a  secret  financial  mission,  was  also  a  passen- 
ger. Representative  Glass  had  two  sons  in  the  service 
and  remained  in  Paris  to  visit  them,  and  as  it  turned 
out,  to  secure  for  one  of  them  an  important  appoint- 
ment in  connection  with  the  peace  conference  at  Ver- 
sailles $&  8& 

Another  fellow  passenger  was  Acting  Captain  A.  F.  B. 
Carpenter  of  the  Vindictive,  which  he  sunk  at  the  peril 
of  his  life,  bottling  up  the  German  submarines  in  the  Zee- 
brugge  Canal  so  effectively  they  nevereven  dared  attempt 

—  236  — 


to  come  out.  This  was  one  of  the  outstanding  accomp-  World  War 
lishments  of  the  Allies  in  the  World  War  and  Captain  At  Its 
Carpenter  was  its  hero.  Climax 

A  pathetic  feature  of  this  remarkable  exploit  was  that  to 
Lieutenant-Colonel  F.  A.  Brock,  inventor  of  the  smoke  * 
screen,  without  which  this  marvellous  piece  of  strategy 
could  not  have  been  accomplished,  was  killed  in  action 
during  the  self-sinking  of  the  Vindictive.  Captain  Car- 
penter was  coming  to  America  for  financial  aid  for  the 
British  Seaman's  union. 

In  a  talk  to  passengers  on  the  Balmoral  Castle  the 
Captain  drew  attention  to  Kaiser  Wilhelm's  threat  that 
he  would  fill  the  seas  so  full  of  submarines  seamen  could 
not  be  found  who  would  dare  to  sail  in  merchant  ships. 
"  Let 's  see,"  he  continued  "  what  there  is  to  that 
threat.  Today  there  sleep  in  the  bottom  of  the  ocean 
eighteen  thousand  members  of  the  British  Seaman's 
union — that  was  Britain's  answer  to  the  Kaiser.  Never 
has  there  been  a  vessel  ready  to  leave  an  English  port 
to  bring  back  food,  munitions  or  what  not — that  has 
waited  one  minute  for  men  to  man  it,  notwithstanding 
they  fully  realized  the  stupendous  risk  they  were  under- 
taking." £•»  $& 

Outstanding  above  and  beyond  all  else  in  this  wonderful 
journey  of  ours  was  the  rapid  and  complete  transfor- 
mation in  six  short  weeks.  Going  over,  our  convoy  of 
camouflaged  ships  were  guarded  by  a  cruiser,  a  destroyer 
and  a  giant  man-of-war,  protected  by  seaplanes  and 
dirigibles,  which,  of  course,  hunted  submarines,  forsook 
familiar  lanes  of  the  sea  and  mysteriously  pursued  its 
tortuous  or  zigzag  way.  All  ships  were  darkened  (it 
being  an  offense  under  an  Act  of  the  Realm  punishable 
by  death  to  display  a  light,  even  a  match  to  light  a 
cigar,)  and  they  crossed  and  recrossed  each  other's  path 
at  night  in  hair-breadth  fashion,  one  being  kept  in  con- 

—  237  — 


World  War  stant  terror  of  a  collision.  Smoke  barrages  were  laid 
At  Its  down  on   the  ocean   to   thwart   submarines.   We  were 
Climax  warned  that  German  bombing  planes  were  extremely 
to    active  in  Great  Britain  and  France,  that  big  Berthas 
•     were  shelling  Paris;  everywhere  in  England  were  signs, 
"  Save  coal,  less  coal  used  means  more  boats  to  bring 
over    American    soldiers,"    darkened    hotels,    streets, 
buses,   taxicabs,  street  cars  and  steam  cars,  theaters 
closed,  hearing  from  the  lips  of  King  George,  President 
Poincare,  Clemenceau,  Lloyd  George,  Pershing,  Haig, 
Foch,  and  men  active  in  conduct  of  war  that  it  must  go 
on  from  one  to  three  years  longer,  finding  pictured  in 
the  faces  of  English   and  French   women,   the   awful 
sacrifices   they   had   made   and   were   making   on   the 
morning  of  November  Eleventh,  there  broke  the  news 
of  signing  of  the  Armistice.  And  now  we  were  in  regular 
lanes  of  the  sea  headed  straight  for  New  York  to  con- 
sume only  one  half  the  time  required  in  going  over. 
<I  Fighting  had  ceased  and  the  great  transformation  was 
complete  $&■  s» 


—  238  — 


A  Glorious  Antithesis 

In  Exactly  Four  Weeks  the  Scene  Changed,  that  President  Poincare 
and  Marshal  J  off  re  Said  Would  Require  Years  to  Accomplish 
— Peans  of  Joy  and  Eloquent  Words  of  Thanksgiving. 

[IME  and  place  have  been  termed  the 
essence  of  all  things.  The  truth  of  that 
aphorism  was  never  more  forcibly 
brought  home  to  the  writer  than  in 
attendance  at  solemn  High  Mass  of 
Jubilee,  Thanksgiving  day,  Nineteen 
Hundred  Eighteen,  at  the  Cathedral 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  Syracuse. 
Home  again,  caught  in  the  warmth  and  swirl  of  wel- 
come that  awaits  the  humblest  traveler  returned  to  his 
own,  Syracuse  seemed  good  on  his  arrival  on  the  eve  of 
Thanksgiving.  Our  son  was  safe.  The  sacrifice  was  over. 
The  end  seemed  attained. 

In  the  cathedral  throng,  solemnity  and  radiant  joy  vied 
for  expression  on  the  countenances  of  praying  people. 
Only  a  month  before  I  had  stood  in  the  chancel  of  a  half 
destroyed  ancient  Catholic  cathedral  at  St.  Quentin. 
It  had  been  converted  into  a  hospital  by  the  invader 
and  continued  in  that  use  by  the  French  after  its 
recapture.  The  silence  of  the  House  of  God  was  broken 
by  piteous  sounds  of  suffering  wounded.  In  the  crypt 
below  the  rifled  coffins  of  nuns  testified  to  the  excesses, 
the  depravity,  to  which  embattled  mankind  may 
descend  so  so 

Yet  here,  a  month  later,  it  might  have  been  a  century, 
was  peace.  Below  the  surface  may  have  lain  hysteria, 

—  239  — 


World  War  hatred  even,  anger  at  any  rate,  and  righteous  anger, 
At  Its  Dut  only  thanksgiving  welled  through.  Tears  came  and 
Climax  smHes  glistened. 

^  From  the  twilight  of  the  nave,  the  altar  appeared 
*  resplendent.  Bishop  Grimes  moved  simply  through  the 
high  ceremonies  of  the  mass,  assisted  by  prelates  and 
priests.  Sunshine  that  was  wintry,  but  Syracuse  sun- 
shine, slanted  through  the  windows  far  above.  Candles 
gleamed  against  marble.  Linen,  lace  and  brocades  lent 
their  purity  and  color  to  the  scene. 
At  the  ' '  Sanctus !  '  with  the  sounding  of  the  chimes, 
hailing  the  act  of  consecration,  lights  flooded  the  altar. 
To  the  left  between  the  arches  floated  the  Stars  and 
Stripes.  At  the  right  hung  a  congregational  service  flag, 
two  hundred  sixty-two  stars  upon  its  field,  seven  of 
them  gold.  Between,  uplifted,  shone  the  Host  and  the 
chalice,  bread  and  wine,  the  Sacrament  of  the  Eucharist. 
^[Except  for  the  sounds  of  the  service,  the  vaulted 
interior  was  as  silent  as  that  crypt  in  France. 
The  momentary  tension  was  done,  the  crowd  packed 
in  from  altar  rail  to  vestibule,  in  aisles  and  sanctuary, 
relaxed  imperceptibly. 

Children's  voices  took  up  the  mass  again.  The  words  of 
the  sermon  echoed  in  the  mind  of  one  auditor  at 
least.  The  Reverend  George  S.  Mahon,  the  preacher  at 
the  mass,  had  said  reflectively  that  the  good  pious 
German  people  had  the  respect  of  all  only  a  few  years 
before.  He  had  traveled  among  them  and  seen  them 
going  peacefully  about  their  duty.  The  iron  heel  had 
clanked  among  them  but  few  had  noted.  Then  Germany 
went  mad.  Never  might  such  madness  touch  America, 
he  prayed.  Rather  should  she  keep  her  face  forever 
turned  from  dreams  of  conquest  and  dominion,  content 
with  her  empire  of  justice,  peace,  tolerance,  and  funda- 
mental righteousness  before  God  and  man! 

—  240  — 


"Amen!'    sang  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  as  the  World  War 

echoes   rang  in  spirit   the  children's  chorus   tramped  At  Its 

down  from  the  loft  and  came  marching  to  the  altar  Climax 

singing  "  The  Star-Spangled  Banner."  Professor  John    * 

J.  Raleigh  may  never  play  again  as  on  that  day  with 

the  inspiration  of  that  time  and  place  in  his  heart  and 

hands  so  so 

Congregation  and  clergy  joined  in  the  anthem  until  it 

became  a  great  shout  of  joy  and  re-consecration  to 

America  under  God. 

Such  was  the  contrast  of  a  month,  between  overseas 

and  home,  a  church  in  France  and  a  church  in  Syracuse. 

When   we   left   St.   Quentin,   President   Poincare   and 

General  Joffre  told  us  the  war  was  yet  an  affair  of  years, 

but  a  little  later  and  in  another  place,  we  saw  separately 

the  fulfilment,  the  realization  of  America. 


241  — 


CHAPTER  XLII 


Mirth  and  Sorrow 

Humor  and  Pathos  Gathered  on  Official  Trip — Bok  and   Wheeler 

Supply  Two  Pathetic  Tales. 

[ROM  sunshine  to  shadow,  from  grave 
to  gay,  from  pathos  to  ecstacy,  from 
the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous  in  quick, 
kaleidoscopic  succession,  often  com- 
pletely blending,  outstand  as  lasting 
impressions  of  our  trip  outbound  and 
abroad.  Many  of  them  arose  on  our 
troop-ship,  the  Orontes,  which,  from  our  frightful 
experiences,  we  called  The  Ship  of  Death.  Most  of  it, 
however,  was  negro  humor,  five  hundred  of  the  Orontes 
eighteen  hundred  troops  being  members  of  the  black 
race.  In  the  awfulness  of  storm,  of  deaths  and  burials, 
many  became  hysterical  and  a  few  temporarily  insane. 
The  latter  were  locked  up  and  held  in  martial  restraint. 
<I  Standing  on  the  hurricane  deck,  although  any  deck 
might  properly  be  called  hurricane,  a  burly  negro  whose 
one-track  mind  seemed  to  work  only  in  military  tactics 
said,  as  he  looked  out  upon  angry,  billowy,  swift-rolling 
waters : 

'  I  wondah,  boss,  ef  dis  yar  ocean  am  ebber  gwine  to 
cum  to  attention!  " 


Negro  to  Find  Firm  Footing  Back. 

A"Y  '  man  visiting  a  mournful  negro  in  the  travail 
of  seasickness  offered  words  of  comfort  only  to  be  met 
with  this  response:  "  I  'se  nebber  gwine  to  cum  back 
dis  yar  way  agin,  boss.  No,  siree." 

—  243  — 


World  War  "  Don't  be  discouraged,  Mose;  brace  up;  you  're  not 
At  Its  g°ing   to   die,"   was   the   Christian   officer's   consoling 

' i    "I  knows,  I  knows  I  is  'nt  gwine  to  die,  sir,  but  I  'se 
•    nebber  comin'  dis  yar  way  no  moah,  suah." 

At  this  the  nonplussed  official  inquired  whether  he 
expected  to  be  killed  in  battle  or  if,  surviving,  he 
meant  to  remain  in  Europe,  he  received  this  answer: 
<I  "  Oh!  I  'se  comin'  back  all  right  sir,  I  is.  Yes,  sir, 
yes,  sir." 

"  I  can't  understand  you  at  all  Mose.  You  say  you  're 
not  coming  back  this  way,  but  that  you  are  coming 
back?  Do  you  expect  to  fly?  " 

"  Lo'd  o'  mercy  no;  aeroplane  am  wurse  dan  dis  yar 
boat.  No  sir.  No  aeroplane  for  me.  I  '11  tell  you  how  I  'se 
gwine  to  git  back.  I  nebber  see'd  a  ribber  nor  a  lake  wat 
did  'nt  hab  sum  land  round  it — wat  else  keeps  de 
watah  in?  an'  I  'se  gwine  to  find  de  Ian  round  dis  yar 
ocean  and  den  I  'se  gwine  to  walk  back  home." 

It  Was  a  Grand  Fight 
John  met  Michael,  just  returned  from  war,  and  greeted 
him  as  follows: 

"  Begorrah !  I  'm  glad  to  see  you  and  sorry  to  see  you — 
glad  you  're  back,  but  sorry  to  hear  you  had  a  turrible 
time."  5^  5^ 

"  Indade,  I  did,"  said  Michael.  "  I  was  in  th'  Argonne, 
St.  Mihiel,  and  hed  a  divil  of  a  toime.  But  't  wuz  a 
grand  foight — a  grand  foight." 
"  What  th'  divil  de  ye  mane  be  a  g-rand  foight?  " 
"  Well,  't  wuz  the  first  foight  I  wuz  ever  in  that  th' 
police  did  n't  interfere." 

Do  You  Want  to  Live  Forever 
A  colored  captain  of  a  machine  gun  squad  composed  of 

—  244  — 


his  own  race  found  one  of  his  men  lagging  behind  and  World  War 

shouted  to  him  to  come  on  and  fight.    "  Get  into  de  At  Its 

game,  sir,  get  into  de  game."  Climax 

But  the  buck  private  had  evidently  heard   the  oft-    ^ 

repeated  assertion  that  the  average  life  of  a  machine    * 

gunner  in  war,  as  being  then  waged,  was  only  ten  hours, 

and  still  cringingly  held  back.  The  captain,  in  a  rage, 

shouted  to  him: 

"  Come  yare,  you  white  niggah;  come  on  here  an'  fight. 

Does  you  want  to  live  forever?  " 

Would  Sell  His  Watch. 

A  big  wave  struck  the  ship  one  day  causing  it  to  tremble 
violently.  Believing  a  submarine  the  cause,  whistles 
were  blown  signalling  passengers  to  go  above  and 
prepare  to  enter  boats  and  leave  the  ship.  Life  preser- 
vers were  adjusted  and  a  long  line  formed.  A  burly 
negro  with  a  heavy  voice  occupying  a  place  well  back 
to  the  end  of  the  line,  thinking  his  time  had  come  and 
that  for  a  short  while  at  most,  would  he  have  use  for  a 
time  piece,  shouted: 

"  Does  any  gen'man  yeah  want  to  buy  a  good  gold 
watch  cheap?  " 

Preferred  Land  and  a  Tree  to  a  Sail  Boat. 
Another  seasick,  ebony  hued  individual  was  besought 
by  a  companion  to  leave  his  quarters  and  come  out 
and  enjoy  the  pleasant  sight  of  a  sail  boat. 
"  Go  away,  nigger,"  was  his  cry,  "  I  doan  want  to  see 
no  sail;  But  ef  you  sees  a  tree  fur  de  good  Lord's  sake 
show  me  to  it." 

President  Wilson  no  Pacifist. 
Two  negroes  discussed  whether  President  Wilson,  now 
that  America   had  entered   war,   was   still   a   Pacifist. 

—  245  — 


World  War  "  No  siree,  he  suah  is  'nt,"  said  one.  "I  knows  Mr.  Wilson 

At  Its  berry  well,  berry  well,  indeed,  an'  he  ain't  no  pacifist. 

Climax  ^r'  Wilson  am  a  veiT  sensible  man.  He  jes'  places  you 

L    up  in  de  front  firing  line,  puts  a  gun  in  youah  hands 

*    and  den  lets  you  use  yuah  own  judgment." 

A  Wonderful  Gun. 

A  negro  soldier  came  out  of  the  firing  line  to  work  in  a 
base  hospital  near  Paris.  Just  before  leaving  he  had 
had  some  experience  when  the  Germans  laid  down  a 
low  barrage.  A  servant  of  his  own  race  in  the  hospital 
declared  he  was  anxious  to  get  into  battle  on  the  front, 
to  which  the  veteran  remarked,  "  No,  siree!  You  does  n't 
wan'  to  go  up  dar.  Dem  Boshes  am  got  guns  dat  shoots 
cannon  ball  wat  weighs  twenty  tons  for  fifty -six  miles 
an'  den  trows  rocks  fo'  haf  a'  hour  aftawa'd." 


A  Negro's  Fear. 

The  captain  of  a  negro  company  one  morning  up  at 
the  front  line  addressed  his  men  as  follows: 
'  Now,  boys,  you  see  those  woods  over  there.  Well, 
we  are  going  to  shell  those  woods  first  with  our  artil- 
lery and  then  this  company  is  going  to  charge  over 
there  and  capture  them." 

"  Hoi'  on,  Captain,  hoi'  on,"  earnestly  spoke  one  black 
private.  '  Does  you  know  dat  dere  is  Boshes  in  dem 
woods?  "  £•»  £•• 


Difference  Between  an  Englishman  and  an  American. 

At  a  dinner  in  London  given  us  by  the  Authors'  Club  an 
American  publisher  said  the  difference  between  an  Eng- 
lishman and  an  American  was  that  the  Englishman 
walked  into  the  drawing  room  of  a  fine  old  palace,  strutted 
about   admiringly,   just  as   if  he   owned   it,  while   the 

—  246  — 


American  strutted  about  and  admired,  but  did  n't  give  World  War 
a  rap  who  owned  it.        At  Its 

A  Higher  Power.  Climax 

<I  "  Do  you  believe  in  a  higher  power?  '    inquired  a    t 
clergyman  of  a  newcomer  at  a  revival  meeting." 
"  Certainly!  I  married  her." 

Herald  Illustrator's  Message  to  Queen  Mary. 
Queen  Mary  is  an  expert  milliner  and  designs  most  of 
her  hats.  It  is  related  she  made  a  vow  when  war  broke 
that  she  would  n't  get  a  new  hat  until  war  was  over. 
King  George  agreed  to  omit  wine  from  the  table  as 
his  sacrifice.  Night  before  the  writer  left  Syracuse  for 
New  York  to  sail  away  he  asked  the  artist,  whose  work 
for  a  dozen  or  more  years  has  brightened  The  Herald,  if 
there  were  any  suggestions  he  wished  to  make: 
"  Yes.  If  you  see  Queen  Mary  tell  her,  for  Heaven's 
sake,  to  get  a  new  hat — I  'm  awfully  tired  of  drawing 
the  old  one." 

King  George's  Sense  of  Humor. 
At  Savoy  Hotel  in  London,  before  going  to  Sandring- 
ham  for  a  day  with  King  George,  Queen  Mary  and 
others  of  the  royal  family,  there  was  excited  discussion 
as  to  what  the  editors  should  wear  and  how  they  should 
act.  Ministry  of  Information  said  King  and  Queen 
would  be  best  pleased  to  have  them  come  in  ordinary 
dress  as  it  was  war  time  and  consequently  form  and 
ceremony  were  waived.  A  member  of  the  Editorial  party 
told  King  George,  as  he  walked  with  him  through  the 
grounds  at  Sandringham  of  our  discussion  in  London. 
<J  The  King  laughing  heartily,  said  it  reminded  him  of 
an  incident  in  France  whither  he  went  to  review  the 
Fourth  British  Army  where  his  .son,  the  Prince  of  Wales, 

—  247  — 


World  War  was  engaged.  He  said  he  was  dressed  much  as  he  then 
At  Its  was  m  a  suit  of  home  spun.  Finishing  his  inspection  of 
Climax  British  troops  he  was  stepping  into  his  motor  car  to  go 
away  when  he  noticed  two  American  dough  boys  at  the 
side   of   the   car   eyeing   him   intently.   This   dialogue 
took  place  betwween  them: 
"Who's  the  boss?" 
"  Why,  that 's  the  King  of  England." 
"  The  Hell  it  is.  Where  's  his  crown?  " 


I 


Piper  Protested  Sharing  Honors  With  the  Whole  Party. 

When  Piper  and  O'Hara,  who  narrowly  escaped  making 
the  supreme  sacrifice,  or,  as  they  say  in  the  army 
"  going  West,"  in  a  limousine  smash  near  Arras, 
France,  had  mended  their  wounds  so  they  were  able 
to  rejoin  their  companions,  the  casualties  remarked 
one  evening  that  as  they  were  hurt  while  in  the  war 
zone,  under  escort  of  British  soldiers,  while  in  pursuit 
of  knowledge  for  the  benefit  of  Great  Britain,  that 
government  should  award  them  wound  stripes  or 
medals  as  a  recognition  of  merit  and  valor. 
One  listener  suggested  the  honor  should  go  to  the  whole 
party.  Piper  protested  that  as  but  two  had  gone  through 
the  ordeal,  only  they  should  receive  the  reward. 
The  sector  where  the  accident  occurred  had  been  des- 
perately fought  over.  Barbed  wire  entanglements, 
trenches,  and  dug  outs  were  everywhere.  The  tree  into 
which  their  limousine  was  catapulted  was  the  only  one 
left  standing. 

'  The  Kaiser  knew  we  were  coming  and  he  just  left 
the   tree   there  for  O'Hara  and   me   to  smash   into," 
said  Piper. 
"  Why  you  two  ?  "  one  of  the  party  inquired. 

'  Granted  the  Kaiser  is  wicked,  cruel,  criminal,  fiend- 
ish," observed  Piper,  "he,  nevertheless,  is  a  discerning, 

—  248  — 


wise  old  fox.  He  knew  which  two  of  our  party  were  World  War 
capable  of  doing  him  the  most  harm  and  he  just  natur-   \T  JTS 
ally  wanted  to  wipe  us  off  the  face  of  the  earth  and  CLIMAX 
left  the  tree  there  for  that  purpose."  te 

ONE  OF   WAR'S    TRAGEDIES 

Lord  Rothermere,  Brother  of  Viscount  Northcliffe,  Gave 
Two  of  Three  Sons  to  War. 

Lord  Rothermere,  brother  of  Viscount  Northcliffe 
met  Edgar  B.  Piper,  of  Oregon,  member  of  the  Editor- 
ial party  in  the  lobby  of  the  Savoy  hotel  and  invited 
him  to  join  him  in  a  cup  of  tea  in  his  Lordship's  quarters 
at  the  hotel.  Needless  to  say  the  invitation  was  ac- 
cepted £»  S» 

While  Lord  Rothermere  and  his  American  guest  were 
enjoying  their  brew,  a  handsome,  athletic,  upstand- 
ing boy  of  twenty  entered  and  asked  guidance  on 
many  details  concerning  the  newspaper  which  his 
Lordship  owns.  When  the  boy  had  left  the  room, 
Piper,  struck  by  the  lad's  fine  appearance,  ventured 
to  inquire  who  he  was. 
"  He  's  my  son,"  came  the  reply. 

There  was  a  pause  and  then  Piper  inquired  if  he  were 
his  only  son. 

"  Yes,"  Lord  Rothermere  replied,  "  he  is  now.  I  had 
three.  Two  were  killed  in  action  at  the  front.  He  wanted 
to  go,  too,  to  avenge  his  brothers  but  he  's  all  I  have 
and  I  persuaded  him  not  to  leave  me  entirely  alone." 
<I  There  was  no  boasting  over  the  great  sacrifice  just 
a  plain  example  of  English  stolidity,  asserting  a  pathetic, 
tragic  truth. 

Settling  the  Irish  Question. 
Our  host,  the  British  government,  asked  us  to  spend 
four  days  in  Ireland  to  settle  the  Irish  question.  As  good 

—  249  — 


World  War  newspaper  men,  we  modestly  and  cheerfully  assumed 
At  Its  the  great  undertaking.  Just  before  we  crossed,  Viscount 
Climax  Northcliffe  gave  a  dinner  for  us  to  which  he  had  bidden 
to    Balfour,  Tennyson,   A.  Conan   Doyle,   Rudyard  Kip- 
*    ling,  Earl  Grey,  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  a  son  of 
the  immortal    novelist,    Charles    Dickens,  and  half  a 
hundred  other  notables.  Next  me  sat  the  editor  of  the 
Mail,  the  evening  edition  of  the  great  London  Times, 
and  which  is  distinguished  as  having  one  of  the  largest 
daily  circulations  in  the  world — 1,550,000. 
"  Understand  you  're  going  over  the  Channel  to  settle 
the  Irish  question?  "  he  says. 
"  Yes."  so  &&■ 
"  Do  you  think  you  can?  ' 

"  Well,  that 's  a  fine  question  for  one  newspaper  man 
to  ask  another  newspaper  man,  now  is  'nt  it?  You  know 
we  can — absolutely.  Would  n't  go  if  we  did  n't  know 
positively  we  could.  Of  course,  they  've  been  fighting 
more  than  Seven  Hundred  years  over  the  question,  but 
you  would  n't  expect  twelve  live,  intelligent  American 
newspaper  publishers  to  go  over  there  and  stay  four 
whole  days  and  not  settle  it,  would  you? ' 
'  Yes,  you   will,"   he  said,   slowly  and  emphatically. 
"  I  '11  tell  you  how  you  '11  settle  it.  Yesterday  I  heard 
this  analysis  of  the  characteristics  of  the  four  peoples 
making  up  the  British  Empire: 
'  The  Englishman  loves  his  beer  and  his  Bible. 
The  Scotchman  keeps  the  Sabbath  and  everything  else 
he  can  lay  his  hands  on. 

'  The  Welshman  prays  on  his  knees  on  Sunday — and 
preys  on  his  neighbors  the  rest  of  the  week. 
"  But  the  Irishman,  God  bless  him,  he  does  nt  know 
what  he  wants  and  will  not  be  happy  until  he  gets  it. 
That  's  about  how  you  '11  settle  the  Irish  question." 
And  it  was. 

—  250  — 


I 


A  Lot  of  Hard  Work  for  One  Pair  of  Shoes.  World  War 

A  negro  soldier  in  the   trenches  appeared  with  a  new  At  Its 
pair  of  shoes.  Climax 

"  Where  did  you  git  dem  aer  shoes,  nigger?  "  asked 
his  chum. 

"  I  gottem  offen  a  Boche,"  was  the  reply. 
The  first  negro  disappeared  and  was  gone  four  hours. 
When  he  returned  he,  too,  had  a  new  pair  of  shoes. 
^  "  What  kept  you  so  long?  "  asked  his  friend. 
"  I  hed  to  kill  twenty  of  dem  aer  Boche  befo'  I  got  a 
pair  to  fit  me." 

ANOTHER  BIT  OF  PATHOS 

Editor  Wheeler  s  Eloquent  Tribute  to  French  Noble  Women 
At  a  composite  dinner  of  newspaper  and  magazine 
men,  given  by  Viscount  Northcliffe,  the  brilliant  editor 
of  Everybody's,  Dr.  E.  J.  Wheeler,  responding  for  the 
editors,  told  this  pathetic  story: 

"  I  am  reminded  of  a  beautiful  woman  with  a  smile  on 
her  lips,  more  or  less  wistful,  but  with  an  unutterable 
pathos  in  her  eyes.  We  saw  a  beautiful  countess  of 
ancient  family  in  the  ruins  of  her  beautiful  chateau. 
She  told  us  of  the  history  and  the  present  condition  of 
the  chateau.  There  was  no  attempt  to  appeal  for  sym- 
pathy, but  it  was  there,  in  the  wonderful  pathos 
of  her  eyes.  We  saw  a  little  later  a  count,  the 
descendant  of  another  illustrious  family,  in  his  ruined 
chateau.  There  was  a  little  room,  about  the  size  of  a 
hall-bedroom  of  a  boarding-house  in  New  York  City, 
where  he  had  a  cot  bed,  and  that  was  the  only  place  he 
had  to  sleep  in.  There  was  another  little  room,  down 
below,  half -open  to  the  wind,  where  he  had  his  dining- 
room,  and  where  he  insisted  on  entertaining  us  at 
afternoon  tea.  He  brought  out  his  little  store,  one  cup 
and  eight  or  nine  glasses.  We  had  tea  in  glasses,  not 

—  251  — 


World  War  in  cups.  He  brought  out  a  spoon  —  one  spoon — two 

At  Its  forks,   and    one   knife.    A   royal    entertainer,   with    a 

Climax  sm^e  on  n^s  nPs'  animated  in  his  conversation,  and 

g    making  no  appeal  to  anybody's  sympathy.  You  can  not 

*    pity  the  French;  I  went  there  expecting  to  pity  them. 

You  can  only  love  them  and  admire  them  and  adore 

them."  s+  s©»  

Sir  Anthony  Hope's  Joke. 

At  a  banquet  to  our  party  in  Hotel  Savoy,  London, 
by  celebrated  English  authors,  every  one  was  permitted 
his  choice  of  singing,  speaking  or  telling  a  story.  Every 
one  chose  the  latter.  Sir  Anthony  Hope's  response  was 
that  he  never  did  any  one  of  the  three  but  that  vicari- 
ously he  would,  if  permitted,  tell  one  that  Richard 
Harding  Davis  had  told  on  him.  Davis  said  that  when 
Sir  Anthony  first  landed  in  America  at  New  York  City 
he  was  about  as  green  as  one  could  be  and  live  and 
with  that  observation  Sir  Anthony,  as  he  looked  back, 
agreed.  Starting  from  his  hotel  he  sought,  bag  in  hand, 
to  walk  to  the  Grand  Central  station  which,  he  believed 
was  but  a  few  blocks  away,  instead  of  several  miles. 
Frequently  he  inquired  of  pedestrians  or  policemen 
his  way.  At  length  he  became  impatient  and  suspicious 
that  the  truth  was  not  being  told  him.  Finally,  he  saw 
a  well  dressed  young  man  with  his  back  against  a  lamp 
post,  who  looked  intelligent  and  kindly.  He  said  to 
himself,  he  would  now  get  the  truth  and  approaching 
the  young  man  inquired : 
"  My  friend,  I  want  to  go  to  Boston." 
This  was  the  answer  he  got. 
"  Well,  who  in  Hell 's  stopping  you?  ' 

A   GRUESOME  FIND 

Onondaga  Boy  Blown  From  His  Grave  By  German  Shell. 
In  Paris,  I  recalled  to  my  son,  our  editorial  visit  to 

—  252  — 


Albert,  France,  once  a  beautiful  city,  with  its  famous  World  War 

cathedral,   which   had   been  ruthlessly  shelled  by  the  At  Its 

enemy  and  completely  destroyed.  My  son  thereupon  Climax 

disclosed  to  me  the  fact  that  when  his  One  Hundred    g 

Fourth  Machine  Gun   battalion   left   Belgium,    where    " 

it  was  brigaded  with  and  had  fought  with  the  British 

army,   to   continue   fighting   with   the   same   army   in 

France,   his   chaplain   was  sent  there   in    advance    to 

prepare  such  comforts  as  he  might  for  the  coming  of 

our  boys. 

Among  other  errands  given  him  was  to  look  up  the 

grave  of  an  Onondaga  County  boy,  mortally  wounded 

by  a  sniper  while  in  NO  MAN  S  LAND,  heroically  giving 

aid   to  an  American  soldier  who  had   been  frightfully 

hurt.    He    was  buried    in    a   little   churchyard   in  the 

outskirts  of  Albert. 

The    chaplain    found    the    grave    with    small    trouble. 

It  was  empty.  A  Boche  shell  had  scooped  out  the  grave, 

and  coffin   and   contents    were  nowhere  to  be  found. 

<I  In  the  bitterness  of  that  day  it  was  believed  all  such 

acts  as  the  foregoing  were  wholly  intentional. 

Changed  His  Calling. 

At  St.  Dunstan's  School  London,  for  soldiers  blinded 

in  war  we  were  told  the  following: 

A  kind  hearted  woman  stopped  in  front  of  a  beggar 

whose  cap  front  bore  the  word,  "Blind!" 

"  My  poor  man,"  she  inquired,  sympathetically,  "  were 

you  always  blind?  " 

"  Oh,  no,  mum,"  came  the  prompt  reply.  "  Last  week 

I  wus  lame,  but  there  wuz  nuthin'  in  it." 


Admiral  Sims'  Pet  Bon  Mot. 

Admiral  Sims  in  nearly  every  speech  we  heard  him  make 
at  functions  in  our  honor  loved  to  tell  of  going  into  a 

—  253  — 


World  War  London  haberdashery  for  a  special  pattern  of  shirt. 

At  Its  Minutely    he    described    to    the    salesman    what    was 

Climax  wanted;    about   everything   in    the    store   was   pulled 

g    down  and  spread  out  on  a  counter  for  the  Admiral's 

*    approval.  Nothing  seemed  to  please  him.  Finally  the 

impatient    but    persistent    salesman    sought    to    press 

upon  the  Admiral  a  certain  pattern  which  he  declared 

was  exactly  what  he  sought. 

"  It 's  not  what  I  want." 

The  remark  greatly  peeved  the  salesman   who  said: 
'  Well,  that  shirt  is  good  enough  for  the  Sultan  of 
Turkey.  He  's  wearing  one." 

'  Oh,  no,  he  is  n't,"  Admiral  Sims  protested.  "  He  's 
wearing  an  asbestos  shirt." 

The  salesman  had  n't  heard  that  the  Sultan  to  whom 
he  alluded  was  dead. 


A  London  Police  Court  Incident. 

Inthe  police  court  in  a  lonely  suburb  of  the  city  of  London 
a  prisoner  appeared  at  the  rail  and  was  asked  by  the 
magistrate  what  had  happened  to  him.  His  cheek  was 
cut,  his  eyes  blackened  and  there  were  other  evidences 
of  the  horrible  ordeal  through  which  he  had  passed. 
<I  "  I  don't  rightly  remember,  Yer  'onor." 
"Don't  rightly  remember?'  echoed  the  magistrate. 
"  It  was  a  case  of  aphasia,  I  suppose?  " 
"  My  heyes!  yer  'onor.  Wat 's  aphasia?  " 

'  Aphasia 's  confused  memory ;  don't  know  your  own 
name.  Try  to  say  something  and  get  the  wrong  words 
or  sentences." 

'  Haphasha,  that 's  hit,  yer  'onor.  A  friend  told  me 
next  time  I  saw  Patrick  O'Brien  to  salute  'im  with 
God  save  Hireland.  Some  'ow  hor  huther  I  got  into  my 
bloody  head  and  sang  'croppy  lie  down'  and  'ere's 
what  cum  huv  hit." 

—  £54  — 


Heroic  Charlie  Chaplin.  World  War 

Inquiring  at  our  hotel  in  Paris  of  my  son  who  first  At  Its 
went  over  the  top  in  Belgium  if  it  were  true  that  men  Climax 
go  over  the  top  willingly  and  with  a  smile,  he  answered:    * 
"  No,   dad.   What 's   there   to  smile   about?  The  only 
person  F  ve  ever  heard  of  going  over  the  top  willingly 
and  with  a  smile  on  his  face  is  Charlie  Chaplin  in  the 
moving  picture  show." 


Wit  of  a  Presbyterian  Clergyman. 
A  Presbyterian  clergyman  and  a  Catholic  priest  who 
had  gone  through  the  fierce  campaign  at  the  battle 
fronts  which  resulted  in  smashing  the  Hindenburg  line 
were  about  to  separate  and  go  their  different  ways. 
War,  they  agreed,  was  a  great  leveller,  that  they  had 
been  together  in  many  sad  offices  and  had  grown 
exceedingly  fond  of  each  other.  Coming  to  the  parting 
of  the  ways  the  Presbyterian  clergyman  said  to  the  priest; 
1  Well,  good  bye,  dear  old  partner.  We  've  had  many, 
many  sorrowful  and  some  happy  experiences  together. 
After  all  we  both  have  the  same  aims  and  ambitions. 
Both  of  us  wish  to  serve  the  Master — You  in  Your 
Way  and  I  in  His." 

EDWARD  W.  BOK'S  EXPERIENCE 

In   Book  of  His  Life   Tells  Deeply   Pathetic    Story   of 

World  War. 

Edward  W.  Bok,  Editor  of  the  Ladies'  Home  Journal, 
was  a  guest  at  the  Northcliffe  dinner,  hitherto  men- 
tioned in  this  chapter,  at  which  Editor  Wheeler  of 
Everybody's  spoke.  Had  Mr.  Bok  been  called  upon, 
he,  too,  would  perhaps  have  told  stories  of  pathos  gath- 
ered at  the  battle  fronts  as  he  had  several  most  unusual 
experiences.  They  are  not  lost  to  the  world,  however, 

—  25.5  — 


World  War  as  Mr.  Bok  has  preserved  them  in  his  book,  which  he 
At  Its  writes  in  the  third  person.* 
Climax  ^ne  °^  ^ne  mos^  prominent  stories  is: 

^  One  evening  as  Bok  was  strolling  out  after  dinner  a 
"  Red  Cross  nurse  came  to  him,  explaining  that  she  had 
two  severely  wounded  boys  in  what  remained  of  an 
old  hut:  they  were  both  from  Pennsylvania,  and  had 
expressed  a  great  desire  to  see  him  as  a  resident  of 
their  State  s+  s* 

1  Neither  can  possibly   survive   the  night,"   said   the 
nurse  $*  $* 

"  They  know  that?  "  asked  Bok. 

"  Oh,  yes,  but  like  all  our  boys  they  are  lying  there 
joking  with  each  other." 

Bok  was  taken  into  what  remained  of  a  room  in  a 
badly  shelled  farmhouse,  and  there,  on  two  roughly 
constructed  cots,  lay  the  two  boys.  Their  faces  had 
been  bandaged  so  that  nothing  was  visible  except  the 
eyes  of  each  boy.  A  candle  in  a  bottle  standing  on  a 
box  gave  out  the  only  light.  But  the  eyes  of  both  of  the 
boys  were  smiling  as  Bok  came  in  and  sat  down  on  the 
box  on  which  the  nurse  had  been  sitting.  He  talked 
with  the  boys,  got  as  much  of  their  stories  from  them 
as  he  could,  and  told  them  such  home  news  as  he 
thought  might  interest  them. 

After  half  an  hour  he  arose  to  leave,  when  the  nurse 
said :  ' ;  There  is  no  one  here,  Mr.  Bok,  to  say  the  last 
words  to  these  boys.  Will  you  do  it?  "  Mr.  Bok  stood 
transfixed.  In  sending  men  over  in  the  service  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  he  had  several  times  told  them  to  be  ready 
for  any  act  that  they  might  be  asked  to  render,  even 
the  most  sacred  one.  And  here  he  stood  himself  before 
that  duty.  He  felt  as  if  he  stood  stripped  before  his 
Maker.  Through  the  glassless  window  the  sky  lit  up 

♦From  The  Americanization  of  Edward  W.  Bok.  Copyright,  1920,  by  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  By 
permission  of  the  publisher. 

—  250  — 


constantly  with  the  flashes  of  the  guns,  and  then  fol-  World  War 
lowed  the  booming  of  a  shell  as  it  landed.  At  Its 

"  Yes,  won't  you,  sir?  "  asked  the  boy  on  the  right  cot  Climax 
as  he  held  out  his  hand.  Bok  took  it,  and  then  the  hand    ^ 
of  the  other  boy  reached  out. 

What  to  say,  he  did  not  know.  Then,  to  his  surprise, 
he  heard  himself  repeating  extract  after  extract  from 
a  book  by  Lyman  Abbott,  called  "  The  Other  Room,"  a 
message  to  the  bereaved  declaring  the  non-existence 
of  death,  but  that  we  merely  move  from  this  earth  to 
another :  from  one  room  to  another,  as  it  were.  Bok  had 
not  read  the  book  for  years,  but  here  was  the  subcon- 
scious self  supplying  the  material  for  him  in  his  moment 
of  greatest  need.  Then  he  remembered  that  just  before 
leaving  home  he  had  heard  sung  at  matins,  after  the 
prayer  for  the  President,  a  beautiful  song  called, 
"  Passing  Souls."  He  had  asked  the  rector  for  a  copy  of  it; 
and,  wondering  why,  he  had  put  it  in  his  wallet  that 
he  carried  with  him.  He  took  it  out  now  and  holding  the 
hand  of  the  boy  at  his  right,  he  read  to  them : 

For  the  passing  souls  we  pray, 
Saviour,  meet  them  on  their  way  ; 
Let  their  trust  lay  hold  on  Thee 
Ere  they  touch  eternity. 

The  three  other  stanzas  followed. 

Absolute  stillness  reigned  in  the  room  save  for  the 
half-suppressed  sob  from  the  nurse  and  the  distant 
booming  of  the  cannon.  As  Bok  finished,  he  heard  the 
boy  at  his  right  say  slowly:  "Saviour — meet — me — 
on — my — way:"  with  a  little  emphasis  on  the  word 
"  my."  The  hand  in  his  relaxed  slowly,  and  then  fell  on 
the  cot;  and  he  saw  that  the  soul  of  another  brave 
American  boy  had  "  gone  West." 

Bok  glanced  at  the  other  boy,  reached  for  his  hand, 

—  257  — 


World  War  shook  it,  and  looking  deep  into  his  eyes,  he  left  the 

At  Its  little  hut  so»  £•• 

Climax  Feeling  the  need  of  air  in  order  to  get  hold  of  himself 

^    after  one  of  the  most  solemn  moments  of  his  visit  to 

*    the  front,  Bok  strolled  out,  and  soon  found  himself  on 

what  only  a  few  days  before  had  been  a  field  of  carnage 

where  the  American  boys  had  driven  back  the  Germans. 

Walking  in  the  trenches  and  looking  out,  in  the  clear 

moonlight,  over  the  field  of  desolation  and  ruin,  and 

thinking  of  the  inferno  that  had  been  enacted  there 

only  so  recently,  he  suddenly  felt  his  foot  rest  on  what 

seemed  to  be  a  soft  object.  Taking  his  "  ever-ready  ' 

flash  from  his  pocket,  he  shot  a  ray  at  his  feet,  only  to 

realize  that  his  foot  was  resting  on  the  face  of  a  dead 

German!  &+■  &&■ 

Bok  had  had  enough  for  one  evening!  In  fact,  he  had 
had  enough  of  war  in  all  its  aspects;  and  he  felt  a  sigh 
of  relief  when,  a  few  days  thereafter  he  took  The 
Empress  of  Asia  for  home,  after  a  ten-weeks'  absence. 
He  hoped  never  again  to  see,  at  first  hand,  what  war 
meant!  s&  s& 

On  the  voyage  home  Edward  Bok  decided,  now  that 
war  was  over,  he  would  ask  his  company  to  release  him 
from  the  editorship  of  The  Ladies'  Home  Journal. 
As  Bok  was,  September  22,  1919,  about  to  leave  his 
desk  for  the  last  time,  it  was  announced  that  a  young 
soldier  whom  he  "  had  met  and  befriended  in  France  ' 
was  waiting  to  see  him.  When  the  soldier  walked  into 
the  office  he  was  to  Bok  only  one  of  the  many  whom 
he  had  met  on  the  other  side.  But  as  the  boy  shook 
hands  with  him  and  said:  "I  guess  you  do  not  remember 
me,  Mr.  Bok,"  there  was  something  in  the  eyes  into 
which  he  looked  that  startled  him.  And  then,  in  a  flash 
the  circumstances  under  which  he  had  last  seen  those 
eyes  came  to  him. 

—  258  — 


"  Good  heavens,  my  boy,  you  are  not  one  of  those  two  World  War 
boys  in  the  little  hut  that  I — "  At  Its 

"  To  whom  you  read  the  poem, '  Passing  Souls,'  that  cLIMAX 
evening.  Yes,  sir,  I  'm  the  boy  who  had  hold  of  your    ^ 
left  hand.  My  bunkie,  Ben,  'went  West'  that  same  even-    f 
ing,  you  remember." 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  editor,  "  I  remember;  I  remember 
only  too  well,"  and  again  Bok  felt  the  hand  in  his 
relax,  drop  from  his  own,  and  heard  the  words:  "  Sa- 
viour— meet — me — on — my — way." 
The  boy's  voice  brought  Bok  back  to  the  moment. 
<I  "  It 's  wonderful  you  should  remember  me;  my  face 
was  all  bound  up —  I  guess  you  could  n't  see  anything 
but  my  eyes." 

"  Just  the  eyes,  that 's  right,"  said   Bok.  "  But  they 
burned  into  me  all  right,  my  boy." 
"  I  don't  think  I  get  you,  sir,"  said  the  boy. 
"  No,  you  would  n't,"  Bok  replied.   "  You  could  n't, 
boy,  not  until  you  're  older.  But,  tell  me,  how  in  the 
world  did  you  ever  get  out  of  it?  ' 

"  WTell,  sir,"  answered  the  boy,  with  that  shy- 
ness which  we  all  have  come  to  know  in  the  boys 
who  actually  did,  "  I  guess  it  was  a  close  call,  all  right. 
But  just  as  you  left  us,  a  hospital  corps  happened  to 
come  along  on  its  way  to  the  back  and  Miss  Nelson — 
the  nurse,  you  remember? — she  asked  them  to  take 
me  along.  They  took  me  to  a  wonderful  hospital,  gave 
me  fine  care,  and  then  after  a  few  weeks  they  sent 
me  back  to  the  States,  and  I  've  been  in  a  hospital 
over  here  ever  since.  Now,  except  for  the  thickness  of 
my  voice,  that  you  notice,  which  Doc.  says  will  be  all 
right  soon,  I  'm  fit  again.  The  government  has  given  me 
a  job,  and  I  came  here  on  leave  just  to  see  my  parents 
up-State,  and  I  thought  I  'd  like  you  to  know  that 
I  did  n't  '  go  West'  after  all." 

—  259  — 


World  War  Fifteen  minutes  later  Bok  left  his  editorial  office  for 
At  Its  tne  last  time. 

Climax  ^ut  as  ne  went  nome  his  thoughts  were  not  of  his  last 

g    day  at  the  office,  nor  of  his  last  acts  as  editor,  but  of  his 

*    last  caller — the  soldier  boy  whom  he  had  left  seemingly 

so  surely  on  his  way    '  West,"  and  whose  eyes  had 

burned  into  his  memory  on  that  fearful  night  a  year 

before !  s+  s» 

Strange  that  this  boy  should  have  been  his  last  visitor! 
<I  As  John  Drinkwater,  in   his  play,  makes  Abraham 
Lincoln  say  to  General  Grant: 
"  It 's  a  queer  world!" 


—  260  — 


CHAPTER  XLIII 


Woman  in  the  War 

Reflections  and  Observations  of  the  Stupendous  Work  which  She  Did. 

ggHSHE  ever  fascinating  study  of  woman 
gathered  fresh  impetus  when  the  world 
war  began.  In  America,  before  we 
decided  to  enter  European  hostilities, 
women  had  engaged  in  every  conceiv- 
^X  able  activity  to  aid  the  soldiers  in 
i*ffij  training  camps,  notwithstanding  our 
federal  government  had  given  its  army  and  navy  the 
greatest  and  most  efficient  attention  and  care  in  the 
world's  history  of  warfare.  It  was  therefore  extremely 
interesting  to  our  Editorial  party  upon  reaching  foreign 
soil  to  learn  whether  Allied  women  were  behind  the  men 
at  the  front  as  we  had  seen  our  American  women  aid, 
encourage  and  support  our  soldiers  now  actually 
engaged  in  the  great  conflict.  Before  leaving  home  we 
had  beheld  American  women  organized  societies  and 
auxiliaries  at  home  and  in  club  headquarters  to  knit 
socks  and  sweaters,  make  bandages  and  antiseptic 
dressings.  In  my  own  home  town,  at  all  hours, 
day  or  night,  they  met  railway  trains  with  free, 
hot  coffee  and  rolls  and  appetizing  foods  and  words  of 
cheer  as  well  as  augmented  the  nursing  staff  of 
local  hospitals  among  the  frightful  "  flu  '  epidemic 
in  camp  and  city.  Mothers,  wives,  sisters  and  sweet- 
hearts ungrudgingly  gave  son  or  husband  or  brother 
or  fiance  and  sent  them  away  with  a  smile  and  a 
blessing.   It,   therefore,   was  deeply  gratifying  to  find 

—  261  — 


World  War  that  women  on  the  other  side  who  had  carried  on 
At  Its  from  1914,  when  they  consecrated  their  lives  to  the 
Climax  Allied  cause,  were  devoting  their  talents  and  energies 
to  in  the  face  of  many  vicissitudes  and  great  discourage- 
•  ments  to  end  war  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 
Our  first  real  glimpse  at  woman  in  war  came  soon  after 
our  arrival  in  England  when  Mrs.  Humphrey  Ward, 
distinguished  author,  publicist,  and  woman  of  affairs, 
gave  us  a  complimentary  dinner  at  Hotel  Savoy, 
London.  Around  the  festive  board  sat  the  wife  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  dignified,  kindly,  gracious, 
who  put  us  all  quickly  at  ease;  the  Duchess  of  Marlbor- 
ough, formerly  Consuelo  Vanderbilt  of  New  York,  since 
separated  from  the  Duke  and  rewed,  gifted  and  con- 
cededly  among  the  most  beautiful  of  noble  women; 
the  Duchess  of  Athol,  who  since  Lady  Astor,  native 
Virginian,  was  elected  to  Parliament  as  its  first  woman 
member,  has  been  asked  to  become  a  candidate  for 
the  office  of  member  of  the  House  of  Commons;  the 
preceptress  of  one  of  the  great  schools  for  women  in 
England  and  enough  titled  and  untitled  women  to 
make  a  full  dozen. 

For  four  years  these  prominent  women  had  been  engaged 
in  all  manner  of  work  in  hospitals,  in  training  schools 
for  nurses  and  women,  and  in  every  big,  useful  way 
doing  their  bit  to  win  the  war.  Just  then  President 
Wilson  had  indicated  that  America  might  feed  starving 
women  and  children  in  Germany.  Mrs.  Ward  paid  a 
fine  tribute  to  America  in  a  speech  that  was  a  classic. 
She  told  of  the  great  pleasure  it  was  to  Englishwomen 
to  meet  representatives  of  that  kindred  nation  whose 
aid  and  comradeship  in  the  vast  struggle  had  been 
of  such  vital  importance.  The  New  World  had  come  to 
readjust  the  balance  of  the  Old.  And  after  four  terrible, 
yet  magnificent  years,  the  French  were  in  Alsace,  the 

—  262  — 


British  at  Mons,  and  the  Americans  at  Sedan.  After  World  War 
beating  Germany,   after  breaking  down  her  military  At  Its 
class  and  insisting  on  reparation,  restitution,  guaran-  Climax 
tees,  the  Allies  and  Americans  chiefly,  for  America  alone    «* 
had  the  power,  were  at  that  moment  going  to  feed    ' 
German  women  and  children.  She  concluded  her  address 
in   thanking   God   that   justice   and   mercy   thus   met 
together  in  consecration  of  victory.  For  the  great,  self- 
sacrificing  help  of  America,  which  grudged  nothing  in 
winning  the  great  war,  English  women  were  thankful 
from  the  bottom  of  their  hearts. 

Several  other  women  spoke  of  work  done  to  educate 
women  to  do  all  manner  of  things  in  every  field  of 
endeavor  to  end  war  as  quickly  and  as  humanely  as 
possible  but  to  end  it  at  all  hazards. 
At  Fruges,  France,  on  our  way  to  Lille  came  our  first 
real  encounter  with  the  doleful  actualities  of  war.  It 
was  a  soldier's  funeral.  Up  hill  from  the  center  of  the 
little  town  came  a  meager  procession.  At  the  head  was 
a  French  padre  bearing  aloft  a  crucifix,  followed  by 
boys  with  flowers.  Then,  on  a  stretcher,  came  the  body 
draped  with  a  French  flag.  Six  women  bore  the 
stretcher  $&  s& 

Twenty  or  more  women,  all  in  deepest  black,  completed 
the  sorrowful  procession.  Except  for  the  priest  there  was 
not  a  man  in  the  entire  company.  All  were  afoot,  plod- 
ding on  through  rain  and  mud  oblivious  apparently  of 
everything  except  their  duty  to  their  dead  friend  and 
neighbor.  From  this  procession  of  sombre  clad  women 
we  understood  that  while  men  fought  at  the  front, 
women  at  home  were  doing  their  solemn  duty,  as  in 
honoring  and  burying  the  dead. 

As  we  passed  out  of  the  little  village  into  the  country 
we  again  saw  women  at  wrork  in  fields  digging  potatoes 
and  beets  or  driving  on  roads  with  loads  of  vegetables. 

—  263  — 


World  War  There  were  a  few  old  men  or  boys  in  field  or  on  road  but 

At  Its  f°r  the  most  part  the  workers  were  women. 

Climax  Listen  to  an  Alsatian  mother,  five  of  whose  six  sons  had 

to    been  killed  in  action.  She  refused  to  accept  sympathy 

•     with  this  solemn  reply:  "  They  died  for  France.  Do  not 

send  me  letters,  I  beg  of  you,  with  black  edges,  signs  of 

mourning.  They  have  fallen  on  the  field  of  honor — my 

brave  children." 

A  French  woman,  looking  a  captain,  who  told  her  that 
her  husband  had  been  killed  in  battle,  squarely  and 
steadily  in  the  eye,  without  the  sign  of  a  tear,  said, 
"  Tell  me  you  '11  save  France  and  I  '11  not  mourn." 
Yes,  we  had  misjudged  France — glorious  France — and 
her  women.  We  were  before  war  too  prone  to  judge  all 
France  by  a  gay  and  frivolous  few  in  Paris  as  we  might 
judge  all  America  by  the  gay  set  of  New  York. 
It  is  related  that  while  on  an  official  tour  of  France, 
Secretary  of  War,  Baker,  in  a  small  village  came  upon 
a  little  procession  headed  by  a  minister  and  a  priest. 
An  American  of  unknown  creed  was  being  buried,  hence 
the  dual  ministration.  Following  close  by  the  casket  a 
woman  walked,  weeping  bitterly.  Secretary  Baker  left 
his  automobile  and  afoot  went  to  the  little  church  grave- 
yard. When  burial  was  complete  he  spoke  consolingly  to 
the  woman  mourner  who  had  so  copiously  shed  tears 
and  inquired  what  relationship  she  bore  to  the  boy  just 
buried.  Finding  her  to  be  French  he  repeated  his  ques- 
tion to  the  best  of  his  ability  in  that  tongue,  and  learned 
that  she  was  in  no  way  related.  She  explained  thus: 
'  Somewhere  in  America  he  perhaps  has  a  mother  whose 
heart  is  bleeding  today  and  I  'm  doing  for  her  just  what 
she  would  do  were  she  here." 

A  bystander  told  Secretary  Baker  that  a  few  days 
before  the  woman  had  buried  her  husband,  killed  in 
action,  a  captain  in  the  French  army.  Thereupon  Mr. 

—  264  — 


Baker  asked  her  if  her  tears  were  not  really  shed  for  World  War 
him,   to  which  she  indignantly  and  proudly  replied:  At  Its 
"  No!  No!  Monsieur!  Not  one  tear  for  him.  Not  a  tear.  cLIMAX 
He  died  for  France.  That 's  glory  enough.  Why  should    * 
I  cry?  Vive  La  France!" 

In  London  women  did  every  kind  of  work.  In  almost 
complete  male  attire  she  was  conductor  on  tram  cars, 
buses,  washed  windows  in  blocks,  swept  chimneys,  and 
in  the  outer  districts  wore  a  bobby's  uniform  and  did 
police  patrol  duty  as  well  as  the  men.  We  were  told  they 
were  chosen  for  bravery  and  strength  and  that  it  wTas  no 
exaggeration  to  say  evil-doers  feared  them  more  than 
male  officers. 

At  Arras,  France,  in  a  Canadian  clearing  station,  as 
hospitals  on  the  firing  line  were  called,  to  which  a  com- 
panion and  I  were  taken  after  an  automobile  crash, 
were  a  number  of  nurses  from  New  Brunswick  and  other 
parts  of  Canada.  All  were  young,  nearly  all  pretty,  full 
of  life,  and  sunshine,  yet  for  four  fearful  years  they  had 
"  carried  on,"  often  enduring  long  and  exhausting  toil 
and  hardships  administering  to  the  awful  human  wreck- 
age of  warfare  and  smiling  through  it  all  while  they 
spoke  words  of  cheer  and  hope  to  their  unfortunate 
charges  s&  s* 

At  Paris,  Mary  Elizabeth  Evans,  of  Mary  Elizabeth 
candy  fame,  a  well  known  native  of  Syracuse,  then  a 
New  York  business  woman,  conducted  a  great  kitchen 
where  delicacies  were  made  for  American  boys  in 
hospitals  s&  s& 

All  was  free.  In  kitchen,  and  engaged  in  the  work  of 
distribution  to  the  numerous  base  hospitals,  were  prom- 
inent women,  chiefly  from  New  York  City.  Even 
chauffeurs  of  the  many  cars  used  one  way  and  another 
in  this  philanthropic  work  were  women. 
While  riding  in  an  automobile  in  Paris  on  the  way  to 

—  265  — 


World  War  St.  Denis  hospital,  Mary  Elizabeth  in  an  outburst  of 

At  Its  j°y  said  to  me:  "  Oh,  is  n't  it  wonderful  to  be  alive  and 

Climax  a^e  to  serve  our  brave  boys  at  a  time  like  this?  No,  I 

/,    would  n't  go  back  to  New  York  until  it 's  over  over  here, 

*    not  if  they  gave  me  a  deed  to  all  Broadway — and  I  love 

Broadway,  too." 

Women,  American  women,  as  nurses  in  hospitals  and  on 
field  as  auxiliaries  to  various  organizations  rendered 
invaluable  service  in  caring  for  sick  and  wounded  and 
comforting  the  dying.  Women  declared  the  best  was 
none  too  good  for  the  boy  on  this  or  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic  fighting  for  peace  and  the  betterment  of  the 
World  s*  $& 

Thousands  of  women  in  America  were  taking  the  places 
of  men  called  to  the  colors  and  had  war  gone  on,  would 
in  their  loyalty  and  patriotism,  as  certainly  have  suc- 
ceeded men  in  all  lines  of  work  as  had  her  European 
sisters  s«*  s& 

And  mistreatment  of  women  in  Belgium  by  invading 
German  army  officers  is  one  of  the  awful  memories  of 
war.  At  Lille,  France,  which  four  days  before  our  party 
reached  Germany  was  forced  to  evacuate,  after  four 
years  of  occupancy,  women  told  us  of  the  thralldom  of 
those  frightful  four  years.  Five  thousand  young  girls 
willingly  or  unwillingly  left  Lille  with  German  officers. 
^  In  France  at  the  close  of  war,  one  million  women  were 
at  work  in  munition  plants  alone. 

In  Nineteen  Hundred  Seventeen,  France  and  Great 
Britain  said  they  must  have  eighty  million  bushels  of 
wheat  or  they  would  perish.  We  sent  them  one  hundred 
eighty  million  bushels.  Who  did  it?  Women  of  America. 
Who  would  have  thought  a  few  years  before,  that  Con- 
gress would  be  permitted  to  tell  us  what  kind  of  food 
and  how  much  we  were  to  eat  at  breakfast?  Women 
voluntarily  saved  wheat,  sugar  and  other  things  by  the 

—  266  — 


I 


cupful  until  not  only  Allied  armies  but  our  own  boys  World  War 
were  fed  real  wheat  bread  while  we  stay-at-homes  ate  a  At  Its 
mixture  known  as  war  bread.  Climax 

In  ship,  aeroplane  and  munition  plants  in  England  and 
Scotland,  tens  of  thousands  of  women  were  employed 
making  shells  and  fuses,  a  healthy,  happy,  smiling  lot. 
Upon  me  it  made  a  most  profound  impression.  To  me 
it  was  unbelievable  that  these  women  realized  the  full 
import  of  what  they  were  doing.  They  chatted  and 
laughed  the  livelong  day  as  they  worked  in  the  produc- 
tion of  missiles  made  to  destroy  life,  churches,  schools, 
business  places,  towns  and  cities.  And  when  later  on  I 
saw  the  fearful  devastation  in  France,  and  in  London 
the  crowded  hospitals  for  the  blind,  and  in  England  and 
France,  hospitals  with  thousands  of  men  in  each,  many 
of  them  horribly  torn  and  disfigured,  and  saw  the  burial 
fields  near  the  ruined  towns  and  cities  of  the  Eastern 
war  front,  I  marvelled  how  women  especially,  could  be 
happy  in  their  work.  But,  no  doubt,  the  all  controlling 
thought  possessed  them,  that  it  was  the  only  way  to 
end  a  diabolical,  brutal  war  which  the  Hun  was  waging 
against  the  whole  civilized  world. 

And  so  in  the  greatest  of  all  wars,  woman,  as  never 
before,  by  her  prodigious  work,  her  trials  and  self 
sacrifices,  her  wonderful  optimism  and  inspiration 
soothed  and  sustained  America  and  other  allies  and 
infused  into  allied  armies  a  spirit  and  a  morale  that  was 
simply  inconquerable. 

The  spirit  shown  by  a  widowed  mother  is  typical  of  the 
country  she  represents.  Having  crossed  France,  the 
widow  was  found  prostrate  on  the  battlefield  of  Verdun, 
by  the  military  police.  "  Woman,  what  are  you  doing 
here?  "  Looking  up  through  her  tears,  she  replied:  "Sirs, 
I  have  lost  five  of  my  sons  in  this  war  and  have  come 
here  to  weep  over  the  grave  of  the  sixth,  my  last." 

—  267  — 


World  War  Hearing  this,  the  soldiers  stood  before  the  bereaved 
At  Its  mother  and  gave  the  military  salute;  seeing  this,  she 
Climax  sPrang  t°  ner  feet  and  cried:  "Vive  la  France,  quand 


? 


memel"  (Long  live  France,  all  the  same!) 


—  208 


CHAPTER  XLIV 


Wickedest  War  of  All  the  Ages 

Some  Outstanding  Impressions  and  Thoughts  Upon  its  Origin,  its 
Wreckage,  Wastage  and  Awjulness — Kaiser  Wilhelm  When  He 
Found  He  Had  Lost,  Said  War  Was  Not  of  His  Making  But 
War  Board  Was  Wholly  to  Blame. 

[HILE  Germany  believed  she  was  win- 
ning the  war,  General  Hindenburg, 
Admiral  Von  Tirpitz,  the  War  Board 
and  the  Kaiser  disputed  with  each 
other,  the  credit  and  the  glory  of  it  all. 
When  Germany  met  with  reverses  and 
collapse  was  inevitable,  sponsorship  for 
defeat  became  an  anonymous  thing.  War,  ingloriously 
lost,  the  Kaiser  blamed  his  war  board,  declaring  he  had 
been  grossly  deceived  by  it,  while  the  war  board,  with 
the  Kaiser  an  exile  in  Holland,  heaped  the  blame  upon 
his  unprotected  head.  Every  one  said  the  war  board  was 
right,  that  it  was  the  Kaiser's  mad  ambition  to  stamp 
German  Kultur  upon  a  civilized  world  and  by  conquer- 
ing it  prove  himself  a  greater  military  genius  than 
Alexander,  Hamilton,  Caesar,  Marlborough,  Frederick 
the  Great,  Napoleon  or  Wellington. 
And  the  dream  of  a  German  Empire,  embracing  the 
entire  civilized  and  semi-civilized  world,  ended  when 
the  Armistice  in  November,  Nineteen  Hundred  Eigh- 
teen, brought  about  the  debacle. 

It  seems  hardly  credible  that  following  so  closely  upon 
the  heels  of  the  peace  conference  at  The  Hague  in  which 
there  was  great  rejoicing  in  the  belief  that  war  could 

—  269  — 


? 


World  War  never  again  be  declared  between  nations,  accounted 
At  Its  highly  civilized,  there  broke  a  conflict,  cruel,  diabolical, 
Climax  fiena*ish,  beyond  human  conception.  At  once  every 
scientific  mind  seemed  perverted  and  bent  upon  a 
determination  to  invent  some  horrible  enginery  or 
agency  to  maim  and  kill.  Air  planes  dropped  bombs  on 
cities,  on  people  and  upon  soldiers;  machine  guns,  on 
land,  tanks  and  hand  grenades  and  Big  Berthas  and 
every  specie  of  poison  gas  and  walls  of  fire;  on  sea, 
floating  or  submerged  mines,  submarines,  (which  dir- 
igible balloons,  TNT.  explosives  sought  to  frustrate 
and  barrages  of  smoke  or  camouflaging  tried  to  coun- 
teract) were  a  few  of  the  demoniacal  forms  of  destruc- 
tion employed  with  deadly  efficiency. 
Frightfulness  in  the  minds  of  German  war  lords,  was 
therefore  the  only  way  to  victory.  London  and  Edin- 
burgh were  bombed  from  aeroplanes.  In  Edinburgh,  aim 
was  directed  at  the  historic  citadel.  Missed  by  about  a 
block,  houses  at  the  foot  of  the  great  hill  were  hit  and 
blown  to  pieces.  Early  in  Nineteen  Hundred  Eighteen, 
London  was  terrorized  by  air  raids.  Bombs  were  dropped 
in  the  heart  of  the  city,  aimed  at  government  buildings. 
There  was  much  destruction  of  property  and  consider- 
able loss  of  lives,  more  than  the  public  was  permitted 
to  know  at  the  time.  Tens  of  thousands  of  people  fled 
from  town.  Many  took  to  the  seashore  where  a  tented 
city  of  great  proportions  arose. 

On  Good  Friday,  in  Paris,  a  shell  from  a  Big  Bertha  hit 
the  church  de  la  Madeleine  filled  with  worshippers  pray- 
ing for  war  to  end.  We  were  told  the  Germans  had 
promised  a  truce  for  that  holy  day  in  order  that  it  might 
be  peacefully  and  properly  observed.  Instead,  the  fine 
old  edifice  was  completely  wrecked,  fifty  people  were 
killed  and  many  more  wounded. 

At  about  the  same  time  in  London  was  another  tragic 

—  270  — 


occurrence.    It   will    be   remembered    that   Mrs.    Lena  World  War 
Guilbert  Ford,  of  New  York,  wrote  that  popular  song,  At  Its 
"  Keep  the  Home  Fires  Burning,"  which  proved  at  once  Climax 
an  inspiration  and  a  solace  to  the  American  heart  in    g 
the  dark  days  of  the  war.  During  an  air  raid  in  London    * 
the  enemy  dropped  a  bomb  upon  the  house  in  which 
Mrs.  Ford  sought  to  nurse  back  to  health  a  son  ter- 
ribly hurt  in  battle,  and  both  mother  and  son  were  found 
dead  in  the  ruins. 

London  and  Paris  were  darkened  to  prevent  night  raids. 
Shutters  went  up  at  four  thirty  P.  M.,  streets  were 
unlighted  and  it  was  an  offense  under  an  act  of  Defence  of 
the  Realm  to  display  a  light  of  any  kind.  Even  taxi  cabs 
were  dark  .&©►  s©» 

Nothing  was  too  appalling  if  only  it  seemed  to  ensure 
victory.  A  high  English  official,  an  American  who  early 
volunteered  to  go  out  with  the  Canadians  and  rose  to 
first  rank  in  aeronautics,  told  a  member  of  our  party, 
in  October,  there  was  a  point  in  Austria,  eighty  miles 
from  Berlin  from  which  Allies  planned  to  liberate  a 
flock  of  fifty  Handley-Page  machines,  each  carrying  five 
tons  of  high  explosives  and  capable  of  staying  in  the  air 
for  five  hours  and  whose  speed  was  one  hundred  miles 
an  hour.  As  soon  as  the  machines,  then  being  built,  were 
completed,  the  expedition  would  start,  fly  over  and 
drop  their  deadly  missiles  upon  Berlin,  utterly  destroy- 
ing it.  Before  the  planes  were  completed,  however,  war 
ended  s«»  s<* 

In  the  course  of  our  visit  to  Sandringham  we  asked  King- 
George  what  he  thought  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  his  uncle. 
Without  a  moment's  hesitation,  His  Majesty  slowly  and 
with  great  emphasis  said : 
"7  THINK  HE'S   THE   GREATEST   CRIMINAL 

IN  history:' 

Asked  further  whether  he  believed  the  Kaiser  might 

—  271  — 


World  War  commit  suicide  as  was  then  reported,  if  he  lost  his  fight, 
At  Its  King  George  replied:  "No,  whatever  else  he  may  be, 
Climax  Wilhelm  is  no  coward  and  only  cowards  commit  sui- 
£    cide."  s+>  so» 

*  And  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  the  Kaiser  to 
the  Austrian  Emperor,  which  evidently  was  taken  from 
the  Austrian  archives,  confirms  King  George's  terrific 
arraignment  of  his  uncle,  and  best  shows  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm's  intention: 

'  My  soul  is  torn  asunder,  but  everything  must  be  put 
to  fire  and  blood.  THE  THROATS  OF  MEN,  AND 
WOMEN,  CHILDREN  AND  AGED,  MUST  BE 
CUT  AND  NOT  A  TREE  NOR  A  HOUSE  LEFT 
STANDING.  With  such  methods  of  terror,  which  alone 
can  strike  so  degenerate  a  people  as  the  French,  the  war 
will  finish  before  two  months,  while  if  I  use  human- 
itarian methods  it  may  be  prolonged  for  years.  Despite 
all  my  repugnance  I  have  had  to  choose  the  first 
system."  £•>  &* 

We  saw  no  women,  children  nor  old  person  with  their 
throats  cut  either  in  Belgium  or  in  France;  but  as  to  the 
second  clause  of  the  Kaiser's  threat  that  not  a  tree  nor 
a  house  be  left  standing,  we  were  eye-witnesses  to  the 
awful  completeness  with  which  it  had  been  carried  out. 
So  far  as  we  could  learn,  practically  all  acts  of  atrocity 
were  committed  in  the  first  years  of  the  war  in  Belgium. 
These  we  got  from  speech  of  the  people.  In  Lille,  France, 
which  the  Boche  left  after  four  years  of  occupancy, 
three  days  before  our  arrival  we  were  told  of  a  twelve 
year  old  school  boy  who  had  shouted  "  Vive  la  France." 
He  was  seized,  attached  in  the  form  of  a  cross  to  a  high 
fence,  brush  placed  under  him,  burned  to  death  and  the 
body  left  there  for  more  than  a  week,  a  terrorizing  warn- 
ing to  passers  by.  That  was  in  Nineteen  Hundred  Four- 
teen.  It  goes   without  saying  that  no  other  child  in 

—  272  — 


Lille    dared    afterward    to    shout    long    live  France.  World  War 
Acts  of  desecration  and  vandalism  were  everywhere  in  At  Its 
evidence.  The  French  peasantry  is  devoutly  Catholic.  Climax 
Stately  poplar  trees  had  bordered  the  beautiful  roads    g 
of  Eastern  France.  Every  few  miles  a  costly  shrine  had    " 
appeared,     where    for    many    a   century     the    dutiful 
wayfarer  had  paused  to  kneel  in  prayer.   Practically 
none  of  these  was  left.  Many  of  them  were  apparently 
blown  up  with  dynamite  or  knocked  down  with  shells. 
^  Between  Noyon  and  Radinghem  in  a  small  town,  the 
name  of  which  is  gone  from  memory,  the  Boche  delib- 
erately, it  is  charged,  dropped  bombs  from  an  airplane 
on  a  Red  Cross  hospital.  Three  or  four  doctors,  as  many 
nurses  and  a  like  number  of  soldiers  on  the  operating 
table  were  killed  outright.  No  doubt  whatever  remains 
that  it  was  an  act  of  deliberateness,  as  the  hospital  roof 
had  a  big  red  cross  easily  seen  from  the  air  and  the 
offending  plane   flew   very    low    when  the  bomb    was 
dropped  s—  &+■ 

At  St.  Quentin,  holes  were  drilled  in  the  interior 
columns  of  the  beautiful  cathedral,  built  in  the  Eleventh 
and  Twelfth  Centuries.  An  order  in  German  directed 
in  detail  the  kind  of  high  explosives  that  were  to  be  used 
to  destroy  the  superb  temple.  Before  orders  could  be 
carried  out  the  Germans  were  driven  from  the  city.  As 
they  went  they  shelled  it  until  it  was  almost  as 
thoroughly  ruined  as  if  the  explosives  had  been  let  off. 
*I  In  a  cemetery  in  a  little  town  near  Perrone  the  identi- 
fying numbers  on  crosses  over  the  graves  of  two  thousand 
Allied  dead  were  deliberately  painted  out.  Cemeteries 
were  dynamited  and  graves  torn  open  and  their  con- 
tents exposed. 

At  St.  Quentin,  in  a  crypt  beneath  a  chapel  where  nuns 
were  buried,  catacombs  were  opened,  and  coffins 
broken  in  a  search  for  copper  with  which  to  make  shells. 

—  273  — 


World  War  Bones  in  caskets  were  ruthlessly  exposed  and  left  upon 
At  Its  the  stone  floor.  No  one  would  blame  the  Hun,  as  copper 
Climax  was  a  war  necessitv'  nad  he,  finding  these  poor  devout 
women  were  cheaply  buried  in  tin-lined  boxes,  returned 
the  coffins  to  their  resting  places  and  sealed  them  up 
again.  The  world  would  never  have  known  they  had 
been  disturbed. 

In  concluding,  reference  to  destruction  in  Belgium  and 
France  an  extract  is  made  from  correspondence  in  the 
Syracuse  Herald  while  the  writer  was  abroad:  'Mil- 
lions of  men  have  given  their  lives  to  end  it  and  have 
died  that  others  might  live.  But  the  battle  of  life  has 
not  ended.  There  lies  in  the  wake  of  this  cruel  war,  a 
picture  such  as  one  who  has  not  seen,  can  never  realize. 
If  I  were  the  most  vivid  or  graphic  word  painter  in  all 
the  Avorld  I  would  not  attempt  to  put  that  picture  into 
the  minds  of  my  readers  as  its  gloomy  outlines  are  for- 
ever indelibly  stamped  upon  mine.  Would  to  God  I  had 
never  seen  it.  With  my  feeble  powers  of  description, 
however,  a  few  words  may  perhaps  not  be  amiss.  I  Ve 
looked  upon  that  long  stretch  of  misery,  ruined  France, 
from  Laon,  a  city  set  on  the  hills,  to  Vimy  Ridge,  which 
Germany  was  forced  to  abandon  ten  days  before.  Vimy 
Ridge  where  France  alone  suffered  two  hundred  fifteen 
thousand  CASUALTIES  AND  THEN  DID  NOT 
WIN.  Do  you  realize  that  in  our  own  civil  war,  not 
many  more  men  were  engaged  on  either  side  than 
France  alone  lost  in  battle  at  Vimy  Ridge? 
Eastern  France  on  the  long,  long  trail  over  which  we 
travelled,  had  been  a  land  of  beauty.  Birds  sang  in  the 
trees,  the  earth  was  green  with  orchard  and  field  and 
yellow  with  golden  crops.  Tall  poplar  trees  shaded 
the   splendid    roads. 

Flowers  were  everywhere,  especially  the  lily  of  France. 
How  great  and  awful,  then,  has  been  the  transformation: 

—  274  — 


Today  in  the  wake  of  the  Hun  are  three  hundred  fifty  World  War 
thousand   DESTROYED   BUILDINGS.    More    than  At  Its 
$25,000,000,000  will  be  required  to  restore  them.  Homes,  Climax 
churches,  even  graveyards,  are  destroyed  and  destruc-    <* 
tionof  city  and  village  is  complete.  Not  one  village,  not    " 
one  city,  but  all  villages  and  all  cities.  Piles  of  red  dust 
and  wreckage  are  all  that  is  left  of  communities.  Now 
and  then  the  weird  shaft  of  a  ruined  building  points  its 
finger  toward  heaven.  At   night  neither  cawing  crow 
nor  shrieking,  hungry,  circling  vulture  is  seen.  It  is  all 
too  poor  for  even  these  rapacious  birds  of  prey.  Gone 
are  the  once  happy  men  and  women  from  this  black,  torn, 
completely  devastated  area.  Where?    One  million  four 
hundred  thousand  French  are  dead,  while  in  French  and 
Belgian  soils  one  million  British  soldiers  also  sleep. 
Once  fertile  lands  are  full  of  shell  holes  and  thick  with 
unexploded  shells.  For  one  thousand  miles  by  automo- 
bile we  rode  through  this  black,  torn,  leafless  territory. 
Trenches,  barbed  wire  entanglements,  dugouts  (in  which 
men  took  refuge  from  an  inferno  of  gas  and  shrapnel 
and  bomb  and  shell) ,  stumps  of  trees,  that  had  once  been 
orchards,  cemeteries  destroyed  by  mines  planted  there 
until  vaults  and  tombs  gaped  wide  open  are  some  of  the 
startingly  vivid  horrors  that  will  live  with  me  so  long 
as  my  memory  lasts.  Allied  dead  are  in  rude  cemeteries 
everywhere  &o  so 

"  Surely,  the  Hun  has  supplanted  the  Lily  of  France  with 
the  Little  White  Cross  which  marks  the  grave  of  Allied  dead." 
Although  not  closely  pertinent  to  the  tenure  of  this 
chapter  it  may  be  interesting  to  recall  that  the  writer 
was  staying  in  Atlantic  City  when  President  Harding 
was  inaugurated.  It  was  his  intention  to  catch  a  special 
train  from  there  at  three-thirty  A.  M.  Soft  living  at  a 
luxurious  seaside  hotel,  however,  is  not  conducive  to 
rising  at   such  a  zero  hour  and  when  he  awoke  the 

—  275  — 


World  War  special  was  well  on  its  way  to  the  national  capital.  When 
At  Its  he  read  accounts  of  inaugural  ceremonies  on  that  day, 
Climax  missmg  tne  tram  had  its  decided  compensations  which 
-a    consisted  of  one  feature  that  pulled  hard  at  his  heart 
*    strings.  Pathos,  especially  deep  and  sad,  was  written 
in  every  line  newspapers   told  of  how  an  attendant 
accompanying  President  Wilson  when  he  moved  up  or 
down  stairs  planted  his  affected  leg  carefully  and  firmly 
upon  each  step  before  he  was  permitted  to  proceed. 
^  Little  more  than  two  years  before  while  we  were 
there,    Woodrow    Wilson    in    Europe    was    acclaimed, 
always  excepting  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  greatest  Amer- 
ican since  Washington,  and  visiting  newspaper  pub- 
lishers were  urged  to  insist  that  he  go  to  Versailles  and 
settle  the  peace  of  the  world.  W'ilson,  to^this^writer's 
manner  of  thinking,    is  as    certainly    a  4r-tt±y  "of    the 
World  War  as  any  shell-shocked,  gassed,  or  shrapnel- 
torn  hero  of  our  American  soldiery. 


—  276 


Some  Famous  People  I  Have  Met 

Being  Impressions  of  a  Number  of  the  World's  Eminent,  With  Like- 
nesses I  Discovered  in  Them  to  Syracuse  Acquaintances. 

[O  us  democratic  Americans  England's 
royal  family  made  an  interesting  study. 
I  think  it  was  Huck  Finn  or  his  negro, 
Jim,  who  remarked:  "  Kings  and  such 
aint  so  much."  But  then  they  had 
never  seen  a  real  king.  George,  the 
Fifth,  of  England,  is  a  real  king  and  a 
very  likable  human  being  withal.  I  should  have  been 
glad  to  meet  him  even  if  he  were  not  monarch  of 
BritairiV  His  democratic  manner  and  human  side  pleased 
me.  He  is  a  larger  and  handsomer  man  than  his  pictures 
show  him  to  be.  He  is  clean  cut,  well  set  up  and  vigorous. 
In  appearance  he  strongly  resembles  the  late  Horace 
K.  White  s«*  s«* 

Moreover  King  George  is  a  far  abler  man  than  Ameri- 
cans who  have  not  met  him  might  think.  Were  he  not 
occupant  of  a  throne  I  think  he  might  be  a  great 
financier  or  captain  of  industry.  He  is  alert  and  keen, 
with  wide  knowledge  and  extraordinary  grasp  of  world 
affairs.  He  has  a  well  developed  sense  of  humor,  too. 
You  should  see  his  eyes  twinkle  as  he  quickly  sees  the 
funny  side  of  things,  and  when  he  laughs  he  lets  himself 
go  in  a  manner  that  is  infectious. 

In  his  early  life  he  was  a  lover  of  nature  and  spent  much 
time  out  of  doors.  Some  of  our  party,  who  thought 
themselves  experts  in  hunting  and  fishing,  were  sur- 
prised by  his  knowledge  of  wild  game,  of  guns,  and 
fishing  tackle  and  of  sports  generally;  and  they  had  to 
admit,  after  talking  with  their  royal  host,  that  in  these 

—  277  — 


World  War  things  they  were  the  veriest  tyros.  In  his  discussions  of 
At  Its  nature  study  and  wild  life  he  reminded  us  of  our  lamented 
Climax  R°osevelt-  He  told  us  that,  as  a  prince,  he  had  often  visited 
^    Canada  and  spent  many  happy  days  there  hunting  and 
•    fishing.  It  had  been  his  ambition  to  visit  and  see  America 
thoroughly,  but  he  said  the  future  must  determine  wheth- 
er or  not  this  ambition  should  ever  be  realized. 
Queen  Mary  is  not,  as  we  would  say  here,  so  easy  to 
become  acquainted  with.  An  air  of  aloofness  gives  the 
impression  that  the  Queen  is  ever  aware  of  her  royal 
position.  This  is  not  to  say  she  is  not  gracious.  She  is 
indeed  most  gracious,  kindly  and  sympathetic. 
Throughout  the  war  she  toiled  early  and  late  in  hos- 
pitals and  in  other  war  work.  Self  denial  and  retrench- 
ment  were   practised   by    all    members   of    the   royal 
family  and  Queen  Mary  led  in  this  spirit. 
The   Queen   reminded    me   of    the    late   Mrs.    Evans, 
daughter  of  Judge  Reigel,  many  years  prominent  as 
County   Judge   of   Onondaga,    and    mother   of    Mary 
Elizabeth  Evans  of  candy  fame. 

Dowager  Queen  Alexandra,  relict  of  King  Edward  and 
mother  of  George  the  Fifth,  speaks  in  a  soft  and  low 
voice  and  is  graciousness  personified.  Although  an 
octogenarian  she  appears  not  more  than  sixty.  She  is 
extremely  generous  and  always  has  been.  One  of  our 
escorts  remarked  of  her  that  if  she  were  again  on  the 
throne  she  would  give  it  away  if  the  idea  occurred  to  her. 
<I  Because  of  her  recent  marriage  so  much  has  been  said 
of  Princess  Mary,  daughter  of  the  King,  that  all  I  can 
add  is  that  we  found  her  a  sweet,  wholesome,  happy  girl. 
<I  Princess  Louise  is  a  brunette;  intellectual  and  pleasing 
and  keenly  alive  to  all  matters  of  the  day. 
To  us  Viscount  Northcliffe  probably  was  the  most 
interesting  personage  we  met.  Perhaps  this  was  due  in 
part  to  the  fact  that  he  was  one  of  us  and  we  were 

—  278  — 


particularly  interested  in  his  career  and  his  work  as  a  World  War 


publisher  s+  s+ 
His  personality  forced  itself  upon  us.  We  felt  the 
strength  of  it.  In  many  respects  he  reminded  us  of  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt.  All  the  Colonel's  fire  and  intensiveness 
without  his  brusqueness  we  felt  again  in  Northcliffe. 
Not  excepting  Roosevelt  himself,  have  I  heard  one  man 
talk  on  so  many  subjects  and  with  such  a  complete 
knowledge  of  each  in  an  hour's  informal  chat.  The  mind 
of  this  publisher  of  the  greatest  number  of  newspapers 
and  magazines  controlled  by  any  one  man,  with  one 
possible  exception,  was  a  strange  complex  of  ideas.  His 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  creative  intellects  of 
the  times.  He  brought  forth  all  manner  of  publications 
with  departments  and  ramifications  never  before 
dreamed  of  in  staid  English  newspaperdom. 
That  he  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  men  in  Europe 
can  not  be  gainsaid.  It  was  Northcliffe  who  brought  out 
Lloyd  George.  Northcliffe's  severest  critics  admitted  he 
was  a  man  of  giant  intellect  and  of  patriotic  and  lofty 
ideals,  but  they  felt  that  the  government  should  never 
permit  any  one  man  to  have  a  power  so  great  as  his,  as 
his  successors  might  wield  it  to  the  detriment  of  a  nation. 
^  The  story  of  Northcliffe's  generosity  in  the  war  will 
live  forever.  To  the  thousands  of  his  employees  who 
went  to  war  he  paid  salaries,  full  pay  to  the  married 
and  half  pay  to  the  unmarried  men.  In  the  four  years  of 
conflict,  years  of  depression  in  business  as  well  as  in 
other  things,  Northcliffe  continued  these  payments  to 
his  men,  payments  which  in  four  years  aggregated  an 
enormous  sum.  This  was  only  one  of  his  many  great 
benefactions.  What  these  payments  meant  to  thousands 
of  families  can  not  be  computed. 

Northcliffe  had  one  overweening  conceit,  a  conceit  not 
to  his  discredit,  one  of  those  conceits  that  many  have 

—  279  — 


At  Its 
Climax 


World  War  with  less  reason  therefor.  It  was  a  natural  conceit,  too. 
At  Its  Although  he  was  much  taller,  he  resembled  Napoleon 
Climax  ano-  was  Proud  of  it-  There  was  the  same  strong  face 
te    and  the  lock  of  hair  that  straggled  down  on  his  fore- 
*     head.  This  Napoleonic  lock  he  cultivated  and  encour- 
aged. A  little  human  vanity  in  a  man,  perhaps,  but  a 
very  natural  one. 

Northcliffe  was  a  mighty  force  in  the  World  War,  a 
greater  force  than  has  been  realized,  and  when  the 
history  of  the  Allied  military  and  civic  forces  is  written 
at  last  I  doubt  not  that  Northcliffe  will  have  a  bright 
page  therein  &+  &&> 

Sir  Campbell  Stuart,  Lord  Northcliffe's  confidential 
adviser  and  head  of  the  Daily  Mail  and  London  Times, 
and  other  Northcliffe  publications,  is  a  young  man  of 
great  energy  and  ability.  Northcliffe  had  Sir  Campbell 
with  him  at  Versailles  and  they  had  much  to  do  with 
drafting  the  Armistice  which,  ten  days  later,  Germany 
signed.  He  wrote  a  book  on  propaganda  in  enemy 
countries  entitled  '  Secrets  of  Crewe  House."  Crewe 
House  was  one  of  Lord  Northcliffe's  homes. 
Northcliffe  had  much  to  do  with  propaganda  and  a 
special  price  was  set  on  his  head  by  Germany  in  retalia- 
tion for  his  work  against  them.  Since  Viscount  North- 
cliffe's death,  Sir  Campbell  has  severed  his  connection 
with  the  Daily  Mail  and  other  publications  to  devote 
himself  exclusively  to  The  Times,  of  which  he  has  been 
managing  director.  In  a  recent  letter  to  this  writer  he 
said  he  had  reached  England  only  five  days  before  Lord 
Northcliffe's  death,  that  he  had  been  staying  in  a  camp 
in  the  Adirondacks  but  did  n't  know  Syracuse  was  so 
near.  One  of  his  ancestors  preached  the  Gospel  to  the 
Mohawk  Indians  along  the  Mohawk  and  when  he  got 
a  little  leisure  he  proposed  to  come  back  to  this  part  of 
the  world  and  see  many  of  the  places  with  which  he  is 

—  280  — 


$ 


familiar  by   name,   hoping  in   due  course,   to   include  World  War 
Syracuse  in  his  itinerary.  At  Its 

Sir  Campbell  is  a  virile,  progressive  newspaper  man  £LIMAX 
whom  you  can  scarce  make  yourself  believe  is  not  an 
American.  He  's  a  man  of  action,  brains  and  force.  It 
goes  without  saying  he  must  be,  or  Northcliffe  would  n't 
have  exalted  him  to  his  present  position.  Withal  he  's 
a  most  charming  companion,  genial  and  versatile,  wise 
in  the  ways  of  the  world  of  European  politics  as  well  as 
being  versed  in  all  manner  of  human  endeavor  and  affairs. 
In  appearance  and  in  speech  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour  recalled 
to  me  Dr.  John  B.  Howe,  chief  editorial  writer  of  The 
Herald.  Slow  to  get  under  way  in  speaking,  first  impres- 
sions of  him  are  that  his  efforts  will  be  uninteresting. 
Balfour  thinks  admirably  on  his  feet.  He  speaks 
extemporaneously,  quickly  warming  to  a  vigorous,  con- 
vincing style  of  oratory.  Lucid  and  forceful  he  never 
lacks  for  words  in  which  to  clothe  a  thought.  We  met 
him  on  many  occasions  and  came  to  regard  him  highly. 
Socially  he  is  a  prince  among  men. 
Night  after  Armistice  at  Claridge  Hotel,  London,  Lord 
Burnham  gave  a  second  notable  dinner  to  our  party. 
To  me,  it  brought  keen  recollections  of  home.  The 
Rt.  Hon.  W7inston  Spencer  Churchill,  then  Secretary 
for  War,  was  one  of  the  many  prominent  speakers.  A 
man  of  commanding  presence  and  real  eloquence,  he 
was  decidedly  insistent  that  England  would  never 
consent  to  give  up  her  Great  Fleet.  It  was  known  at  the 
time  that  that  would  be  President  Wilson's  demand 
and  a  bold  and  unequivocal  assertion  from  such  an 
eminent  authority  was  a  decided  shock  to  the  nervous 
systems  of  us  Americans.  It  seemed  passing  strange 
since  I  recalled  Mr.  Churchill,  who  had  a  military 
record  before  the  World  War  began,  on  his  maternal 
side    is    of   American    descent.    Jennie    Jerome,    Lady 

—  281  — 


World  War  Randolph  Churchill,  mother  of  Winston  Spencer,  was 

At  Its  daughter  of  Leonard  Jerome,  a  prominent  New  York 

Climax  Danker  who  was  a  son  of  Timothy  Jerome,  of  Pompey 

^    Hill,  near  Syracuse.  It  seemed  to  my  mind  as  if  Mr. 

*  Churchill  took  an  attitude  dictatorial  and  strongly 
anti-American.  Mr.  Churchill's  father,  Lord  Randolph 
Churchill,  was  descended  from  the  Seventh  Duke  of 
Marlborough.  At  a  banquet,  a  few  days  before,  given 
by  Mrs.  Humphrey  Ward,  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough, 
who  was  formerly  Miss  Consuelo  Vanderbilt  of  New 
York  City,  was  one  of  the  guests.  By  marriage  she  was 
closely  related  to  the  Churchills. 

Winston  Spencer  Churchill,  nevertheless,  has  had  a 
most  remarkable  career.  He  was  Secretary  of  State  for 
the  Colonies,  Home  Secretary,  First  Lord  of  Admiralty, 
Rector  of  Aberdeen  University,  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy 
of  Lancaster,  Minister  of  Munitions,  Secretary  for  War, 
and  is  now  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies.  His  war 
record  is  that  he  was  with  the  Spanish  forces  in  Cuba  in 
Eighteen  Hundred  Ninety -five,  when  only  twenty-one 
years  old,  headed  the  Punjab  Infantry  in  India  in 
Eighteen  Hundred  Ninety-seven,  distinguished  him- 
self at  the  Battle  of  Khartoum,  later  headed  the  Light 
Horse  Cavalry  in  South  Africa,  where  he  was  taken 
prisoner  and  cleverly  escaped. While  in  the  South  African 
campaign  he  was  famous  as  a  newspaper  correspondent. 
He  is  an  author  of  no  mean  merit,  having  written  five 
or  six  books,  mostly  about  wars  he  has  seen  and  served 
in,  and  the  life  of  his  distinguished  parent,  Lord  Ran- 
dolph Churchill. 

Although  much  younger,  Lord  Beaverbrook,  has 
something  about  him  recalling  Governor  Nathan  L. 
Miller.  Only  at  his  wonderful  country  seat  Cherkeley 
Court  at  Surrey,  outside  London,  had  we  an  opportun- 
ity to  meet  him,  as  he  was  in  ill  health  owing  to  hard- 

—  282  — 


ships    and    exposures    encountered    in     World     War  World  War 
engagements.  Beaverbrook  is  big  brained  and  his  rise  At  Its 
was  almost  phenomenal.   He  had  been  a  resident  of  CLrviAX 
England  only  eight  years,  urged  to  go  there  from  his    ^ 
native  New  Brunswick  by  his  friend  Bonar  Law,  who    * 
went  out  from  the  same  town.  Born  William  Maxwell 
Aitken,  he  was  lawyer  and  banker  at  an  early  age. 
Shrewd,  with  keen  business  sense  and  excellent  judg- 
ment he  quickly  became  many  times  a  millionaire. 
Major  Evelyn  Wrench,  spoken  of  elsewhere,  beside  a 
war  record  to  be  envied,  was  a  big  figure  in  civil  life. 
He  has  recently  visited  America  in  the  interest  of  the 
English-Speaking  Union  which  he  founded.  At  the  same 
time  he  carried  a  very  important  testimonial  from  the 
British  Government  to  our  State  Department  in  recog- 
nition of  the  services  of  some  of  our  American  troops  in 
the  war.  MajorWrench  is  still  a  very  young  man  and  will 
no  doubt  be  heard  from  in  English  governmental  affairs. 
K  Major  Fury  Ferguson  Montague  who  had  charge  of  us 
on  battle  fronts  is  a  Canadian  whose  home  is  at  Win- 
nipeg.  He   distinguished   himself  on   many   a  field   of 
battle  and  was  frequently  decorated.  A  barrister  he 
returned  in  Nineteen  Hundred  Nineteen,  to  Winnipeg, 
and  resumed  the  practice  of  law. 

It  was  my  pleasant  good  fortune  to  be  placed  next  the 
wife  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  at  Mrs.  Hum- 
phrey Ward's  dinner.  I  fell  in  love  with  her  before  she 
uttered  a  word.  She  has  the  sweetest,  most  motherly 
smile  it  has  been  my  lot  to  have  bestowed  upon  me. 
She  is  of  large  stature,  a  lionine  head  crowned  with 
a  wealth  of  titian  hair.  Perhaps  somewhere  near  sixty, 
highly  intellectual,  she  radiates  joy,  sunshine  and  hope 
which  seem  with  her  to  be  a  religion.  World  war  fur- 
nished a  sombre  but  fruitful  field  for  her  great  qualities 
of  head  and  heart,  all  of  which  she  gave  without  stint. 

—  283  — 


World  War  Rt.  Hon.  Viscount  Burnham,  a  newspaper  man  of  high 
At  Its  rank  gave  a  number  of  dinners  in  honor  of  the  American 
Climax  editors,  is  a  handsome  man  who  recalls  Judge  Edgar 
^    S.  K.  Merrill  of  the  Appellate  division  of  the  Court  of 
*    Appeals.  He  owns  the  Daily  Telegraph,  of  London,  a 
very  prosperous  newspaper.  The  Telegraph  has  experi- 
mented with  substitutes  for  pulp  wood  in  the  manu- 
facture of  newsprint.  For  several  years  The  Telegraph 
was  printed  on  paper  made  from  jute  straw  grown  in 
India.  Again  one  hundred  thousand  acres  of  wild  lands 
in  Southwestern  Arizona  and  Southeastern  California 
was  bought  of  the  United  States  and  Yucca  palm  trees 
were  cut  off  and  made  up  into  newspaper  pulp.  The 
Yucca  has  a  splendid  fibre  but  only  a  small  supply  of 
the  wood  is  obtainable,  standing  so  sparsely  as  to  make 
its  gathering  unprofitable. 

In  a  letter  back  home  to  The  Herald,  President  Poin- 
caire  was  likened  to  the  Music  Master.  Like  General 
Joffre,  hero  of  the  Marne,  we  saw  but  little  of  him. 
Each  impressed  us  deeply.  Joffre  was  somewhat  ill, 
showing  strain  when  he  received  us.  In  April  of  this 
year  when  I  saw  him  in  New  York  City  he  seemed  in 
much  better  health,  spirits  and  vigor. 


SIR  CAMPBELL  STUART 


LORD  BURNHAM 


284  — 


FINAL  CHAPTER 


Memories 

Thoughts  that  Please  and  Bless. 

[ICH  memories  flood  my  brain  as  this 
narrative  of  a  memorable  and  notable 
journey  approaches  its  end. 
Were  not  the  reader  to  remember  that 
opportunity  is  born,  not  made,  and 
therefore  beyond  human  creation  or 
control,  I  might  be  accused  of  egotism 
in  pronouncing  this  narrative  easily  the  crowning  glory 
of  a  life  into  which  kind  fortune  has  thrust  many  unusual 
opportunities  s&  $&■ 

For  months,  newspapers  and  magazines  have  teemed 
with  picture  and  story  of  a  King's  daughter  who  chose 
to  wed  a  viscount  and  who,  as  Princess  Mary,  had  first 
to  solemnly  and  ceremoniously  renounce  her  right  of 
succession  to  the  throne  of  England  as  the  price  of 
marrying  outside  of  royalty.  An  old  adage  runs;  "All 
the  world  loves  a  lover."  From  all  accounts  this  most 
popular  English  marriage  in  many  decades  was  un- 
doubtedly a  love  match.  Therefore  Viscountess  Las- 
celles  should  live  happily  henceforth  and  forever  in  the 
love  nest,  a  fine  old  baronial  castle,  to  which  her  liege 
lord  has  taken  her.  Be  that  as  it  may,  her  splendid 
courage  and  nobility  of  decision  in  preferring  the  castle 
of  a  viscount  to  the  marble  halls  of  royalty  was  at  least 
a  seeming  sacrifice  which  commands  universal  admira- 
tion. Princess  Mary,  nineteen,  was  a  central  figure  in 
entertaining  our  editorial  party  on  the  occasion  of  a 
memorable  visit  to  Sandringham,  the  country  home  of. 

—  285  — 


World  War  King  George.  King  George  and  hostesses  were  Queen 

At  Its  Mary,  Dowager  Queen  Alexandra,  mother  of  the  King 

Climax  anc^  widow  of  King  Edward  VII  and  Princess  Louise, 

«^    sister  of  the  King. 

*  Present  day  pictures  of  Viscountess  Lascelles  show  her 
grown  decidedly  mature  or  matronly  in  three  and  a  half 
years  that  have  elapsed  since  that  eventful  day  at 
Sandringham  when  she  was  just  a  vivacious,  laughing, 
merry,  English  girl,  whose  alert  human  interest  and 
sympathy  and  unassuming,  democratic  ways  won  all 
our  hearts.  No  doubt  every  member  of  our  party  today 
is  wishing  her  every  joy  and  comfort  this  world  can 
bestow  £•»  £•» 

Recalled  to  my  mind  also  are  the  names  of  two  American 
women  who  acted  as  bridesmaids  to  Princess  Mary — 
the  former  Duchess  of  Marlborough, who  before  marriage 
was  Miss  Consuelo  Vanderbilt  of  New  York  City,  and 
Lady  Decies,  formerly  Miss  Vivian  Gould,  also  of  New 
York  and  a  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  J. 
Gould  &+  s» 

fl  The  then  Duchess  of  Marlborough  was  the  cynosure  of 
all  eyes  at  a  banquet  given  in  our  honor  in  London  by 
Mrs.  Humphrey  Ward,  distinguished  English  author, 
while  Lady  Decies'  husband,  Lord  Decies,  a  fine,  red- 
blooded,  two-fisted  fellow  gave  us  a  remarkable  dinner 
at  Shelburne  Hotel,  Dublin.  My  table-mate  at  the 
function  was  Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  one  of  the  principal 
speakers,  who  has  twice  since  come  to  America  for  rest, 
recreation  and  to  lecture.  During  the  afternoon  pre- 
ceding the  dinner,  we  had  had  a  five  hours'  session 
with  eight  leading  Sinn  Feiners  in  Assembly  hall,  Shel- 
burne Hotel.  A  year  or  so  ago  it  was  announced  that 
Lord  Decies — who  had  been  offered  the  Lieutenant- 
General's  office  in  Ireland  had  resolved  to  expatriate 
.himself  from  Great  Britain  and  becoming  a  citizen  of 

—  286  — 


the  United  States,  reside  in  New  York.  The  proposition,  World  War 
however  has  not  materialized.  At  Its 

Arthur  J.  Balfour,  another  of  England's  truly  great,  Climax 
has  returned  to  London  after  a  long  and  active  stay  at    te 
Washington,  where  he  was  a  commanding  figure  in  the    ' 
disarmament    conference,   and    has    just    been    made 
Knight  of  the  Garter   in   acknowledgment   of  his  ser- 
vices. At  the  Waldorf-Astoria  Hotel,  New  York,  he  was 
given  a  dinner  by  the  American  branch  of  the  English- 
Speaking   Union,  of   which   Ex-President   William   H. 
Taft  is  President.  Our  entire  party  was  bidden  to  it. 
We  had  been  given  a  wonderful  banquet  in  London  by 
the  parent  organization,  of  which  Mr.  Balfour  is  presi- 
dent. The  Union  was  founded  by  Major  Evelyn  Wrench, 
acting  host  of  our  editorial  expedition,  which,  in  a  body, 
became  members. 

It  was  likewise  my  very  great  privilege  to  meet  Marshal 
Foch  at  a  dinner  in  New  York,  given  at  the  Commodore 
Hotel  by  New  York  State,  under  the  auspices  of  Gover- 
nor Nathan  L.  Miller.  Marshal  Foch  had  sought  to 
arrange  a  meeting  with  us  in  France  but  was  too  busily 
engaged  in  smashing  the  Hindenburg  line,  which  he 
broke  so  effectively  an  armistice  was  forced  a  little  later. 
<I  General  Haig,  commander  of  British  troops,  also 
vainly  tried  to  meet  us.  He  had  given  up  Radinghem 
castle  for  our  convenience  and  comfort,  leaving  in 
charge  of  it  several  of  his  aides  and  many  servants. 
But  he,  too,  was  actively  engaging  the  enemy  and  made 
his  headquarters  in  another  castle  at  the  front,  whence 
he  was  pushing  back  the  German  army. 
Last,  but  not  least,  General  John  J.  Pershing  was  our 
host  at  a  function  in  Paris.  Happily,  one  week  later  the 
Armistice  was  signed  and  hostilities  ceased. 
Having  thus  recalled  the  persons  whose  names  re- 
awaken world  war  memories  it  is  perhaps  apropos  that 

—  287  — 


World  War  this  narrative  should  close  with  a  consideration  of  why 

At  Its  Germany  lost  and  the  Allies  won,  with  especial  emphasis 

Climax  on  America's  part.  Insofar  as  America's  part  goes,  it  is 

j    my  unshakable  opinion  it  won  through  the  American 

*    boy's  sublime  faith,  love  of  home  and  mother. 

AND  THE  GREATEST  OF  ALL  THESE  WAS 
MOTHER. 

<|  President  Poincare,  at  an  official  reception  in  Paris, 
characterized  the  German  army  as  the  most  wicked, 
the  most  cruel,  but  the  most  efficient  and  powerful 
fighting  machine  in  all  history,  remarking  that,  although 
in  all  human  probability  war  would  go  on  for  another 
year  and  a  half,  Allied  troops  must  ultimately  win,  since 
it  was  inconceivable  that  injustice  could  triumph  over 
justice  or  wrong  over  right. 

Neither  wild  men  from  French  colonies  nor  the  Germans 
were  impelled  by  that  splendid  morale  that  stirred  the 
Allies.  From  some  French  colonies  cannibals  were  im- 
pressed into  service.  These  savage  people,  if  allowed, 
man  to  man,  to  use  knife  or  club,  fought  with  all  the 
ferocity  of  demons  but  when  put  up  into  front  firing- 
lines  with  gas  and  bomb  and  tank  and  machine-gun 
they  became  utterly  uncontrollable  and  had  to  be  taken 
out  of  the  ranks  and  sent  to  the  rear. 
And,  too,  it  was  morale  and  love  of  home  and  mother 
that  drove  Allies  through  the  gates  of  hell,  as  the 
Hindenburg  line  was  properly  called.  Adversely,  it  was 
as  surely  the  lack  of  these  ideals  that  lost  the  war  to 
Germany.  Major  Furry  Ferguson  Montague,  a  Cana- 
dian soldier,  military  attache  of  our  Editorial  party, 
again  and  again  decorated  for  bravery,  made  me  this 
reply  when  asked  what  sent  him  over  the  top,  '  I  '11 
tell  you  frankly.  I  know  I  've  been  honored  many  times 
for  bravery  but  I  'm  nevertheless  a  natural  coward.  In 
college  I  excelled  at  football  and  hockey  and  still  gradu- 

—  288  — 


ated  with  fair  class  honors,  studied  law  and  was  ad-  World  War 
mitted  to  the  bar,  then  enlisted  in  Canada  in  Nineteen  At  Its 
Hundred  Fourteen.  Back  in  Winnipeg  sits  a  dear  old  Climax 
mother  who  thinks  I  am  the  greatest  athlete  and  the    * 
brightest  student  that  was  ever  graduated  from  Toronto    » 
university,  that  I  was  the  ablest  lawyer  in  Winnipeg, 
and  now  that  I  am  in  the  war,  that  I  'm  the  bravest 
fighter     among     all     our     Canadian     troops.     That's 
what  drove  me  over  the  top  and  kept  me  over  the  top.  Do 
you  think  I  could  be  yellow  under  those  circumstances? 
No!  she  's  going  to  die  with  that  high  ideal  of  me  if  I 
must  go  to  my  grave  to  maintain  it." 
Neuilly,  Paris's  famous  racing  grounds,  had  been  given 
over  to   America   by   the   French   government   and   a 
number,  of  base  hospitals  and  buildings  were  put  into 
use  as  Executive  offices  of  the  Red  Cross,  Knights  of 
Columbus,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Salvation  Army  and 
similar  organizations  and  many  statistical  departments. 
There  was  a  very  sizeable  temporary  cemetery  within 
the   grounds    where   from   seven   to   eleven   American 
victims  of  Spanish   influenza,   besides   those  dying  in 
hospitals  were  buried  daily.  We  were  shown  through  the 
hospital  buildings  by  a  Presbyterian  chaplain,  a  rank- 
ing American  captain. 

It  was  the  occasion  of  comment  in  passing  through  the 
wards  that  while  many  boys  were  frightfully  torn  and 
maimed,  nearly  all  smiled  and  spoke  lightly  of  their 
suffering  which,  they  declared,  was  "  all  in  the  day's 
work."  An  exception  was  one  morose  lad  before  whom 
our  ministerial  guide  stopped  to  offer  words  of  cheer. 
"  That 's  an  unusually  pathetic  case,"  remarked  the 
chaplain  as  he  rejoined  us  outside  the  building.  "  The 
boy  with  whom  you  saw  me  speaking  is  horribly  and 
fatally  wounded.  It  happened  this  way:  Up  in  the  front 
trenches   when   mail    was   being   distributed   he   asked 

—  289  — 


World  War  regularly  for  letters  from  home.  None  came.  During  a 

At  Its  red  hot  skirmish  a  companion  noticed  he  was  recklessly 

Climax  exPosmg  himself  and  reprimanded  him'for  his  careless- 

g    ness,  declaring  the  Boche  would  get  him  if  he  did  n't 

•    watch  out. 

"  'What  does  it  matter  anyhow?  "  came  the  swift  reply. 
'  No  one  cares  for  me.  Why,  I  never  even  get  a  letter 
from  home  like  other  boys.'  Then  a  shell  came  whistling 
along  and  burst  and  the  casualty  with  whom  you  just 
saw  me  talking  was  carried  here  to  Paris. 

'  Two  weeks  ago  there  was  brought  to  him  here  in  one 
package  twenty-nine  letters,  nearly  all  written  by  his 
mother.  They  had  been  mailed  at  regular  intervals  but 
postal  service  is  woefully  inefficient  in  France  today, 
causing  many  a  heartache.  However,  this  case  is  by  far 
the  saddest  one  coming  within  my  knowledge." 
The  day  following  I  went  to  St.  Denis  hospital  to  have 
the  stitches  drawn  from  my  wounds  received  in  an 
automobile  accident  heretofore  described.  A  remark- 
ably handsome  chap  with  a  wonderfully  winning  smile, 
commiserated  me  on  my  injuries  and  with  much  solici- 
tude sought  to  learn  their  history. 

'  Oh,  I  'm  all  right,  son;  It 's  only  my  pride  that 's 
hurt,"  I  said  pointing  to  my  disfigured  face,  "  Let 's 
talk  about  you." 

Since  May,  it  was  then  early  November,  he  had  lain 
on  a  cot  with  his  right  leg  in  a  sling  raised  two  feet 
higher  than  his  body. 

Smiles  wreathed  his  face  as  he  said  he  did  n't  mind 
since  doctors  had  told  him  he  could  take  the  leg  down 
in  two  weeks,  assuring  him  he  could  use  it  again.  "  But," 
he  added  slowly,  with  none  of  the  smiles  leaving  his 
young  face,  "  Heinie  got  me  in  the  side  with  a  piece  of 
shrapnel  and  the  wound  pains  me  all  the  time.  Doctors 
tell  me  it  may  never  heal.  What 's  the  difference?  ' 

—  290  — 


he  added  proudly  and  resignedly,  "  I  guess  I  've  done  World  War 
my  .bit  all  right."  \T  jTS 

"  And  yet  you  lie  there  and  smile  and  ask  about  my  Climax 
small  hurts.  God  bless  you,  son,"  I  said  as  I  shook    ^ 
hands  in    farewell.   "  You  certainly  are  a  brave    lad.    * 
You  deserve  to  get  well  and  I  'm  going  to  pray  you 
will."s^  .-o. 

And  the  thought  entered  my  mind  how  much  I  had  to 
be  thankful  for,  because  with  me  at  the  time  on  leave 
to  visit  me  in  Paris,  because  of  my  injuries,  was 
my  own  son  who  fought  in  Belgium  and  France  in 
that  most  hazardous  of  services,  the  machine  gun  branch 
and  had  come  off  unhurt. 

Next,  a  Major,  who  escorted  me  through  the  building 
took  me  into  an  operating  wing  to  have  the  stitches 
drawn  from  my  head  and  face.  It  occurred  to  me  that 
the  surgeon  was  a  trifle  slow  and  I  besought  him  to 
hurry  s»  s+ 

"  It  will  hurt,  quite  a  bit  if  I  do,"  he  replied. 
"  It  won't  hurt  a  thousandth  part  as  much  as  that  poor 
boy's  agonizing  cries"  I  told  him. 

"  Doctor,  please,  please,  doctor,  let  me  go  home  to  my 
wife  and  two  kiddies,"  were  the  beseeching'  cries  that 
floated  out  from  an  adjoining  room. 
As  the  surgeon  accompanied  me  to  the  door  a  few 
minutes  later  and  bade  me  God  speed,  he  turned 
toward  the  boy  from  whom  the  agonizing  appeals  came 
and  said: 

"Poor  fellow, he  '11  never  see  his  wife  and  kiddies  again. 
He  '11  never  see  another  sundown." 
Discussing,  with  my  son,  that  evening  at  our  hotel  in 
Paris,  I  asked  him,  from  his  experience  and  observation, 
what  he  believed  was  the  underlying  reason  America 
had  won  from  British  and  French  rulers,  war  officers 
and  statesmen,  the  praise  she  was  then  receiving. 

—  291  — 


World  War  "  It  's  the  wonderful  morale  of  our  American  expedi- 

At  Its  tionary  force,  Dad,"  was  his  reply. 

Climax  Continuing,  he  said,  "  The  German  soldier  is  trained  as 

^    a  part  only  of  a  great  unit  or  machine.  He  has  no 

*    initiative.    Break    up    the    machine    and    he 's    lost — 

does  n't  know  what  to  do.  In  such  circumstances,  man 

to  man,  one  American  soldier  will  whip  three  German 

fighters.   But  with  our  boys   there  's  a  higher  and  a 

firmer   morale.    It  's   the   love   of   home   and   country. 

The  German  is  just  a  cold,  bloodless,  soulless  part  of  a 

great  fighting  machine  because  that  is  what  his  military 

training  has  taught  him  to  be." 

As  an  example  of  how  thoroughly  our  American  officers 
understood  the  benefits  of  morale  and  appreciated  how 
inspiring  were  the  boys'  constant  thoughts  of  home 
and  mother,  he  said,  in  Flanders  Field  where  his  machine 
gun  went  over  the  top  and  received  its  baptism  of  fire, 
so  fierce  and  continuous  were  hostilities  in  those  miser- 
able morasses,  there  was  no  such  thing  as  stopping  to 
eat  and  food  and  hot  coffee  were  sent  up  to  the  boys  on 
the  front  firing  line.  With  the  hot  meal,  if  there  was 
mail,  it  was  sent  along. 

"  In  that  event,  Dad,"  was  my  son's  inquiry,  "  Wliich 
do  you  think  was  taken  first,  coffee  or  letter  from 
home?  "  so  so 

"  Your  question  answers  itself,  son.  They,  no  doubt, 
drank  their  coffee  cold." 

And  so  I  repeat,  war  was  won,  as  it  ever  will  be  in  a 
civilized  world,  primarily  by  HOME  AND  MOTHER, 
AND  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  IS  MOTHER. 
*l  Never  before  in  history  had  a  people  gone  to  war 
with  such  lofty  aspirations  or  for  such  high  ideals  as 
those  for  which  Americans  fought.  Against  all  the 
enginery  of  hell — every  fiendish  weapon  perverted 
science  could  invent — bombing  plane  in  air,  sneaking 

—  292  — 


submarine  in  sea,  and  on  land,  poison  gas  and  shrapnel  World  War 
and  bomb   and   tank   and   Big  Bertha — America  had   \T  lTS 
hurried  overseas  from  3,000,000   to  4,000,000  of  the  cLIMAX 
flower  of  her  young  manhood,  sons  alike  of  the  million-    te 
aire  and  the  laborer,  college  athletes  and  professional    * 
men  in  all  ranks,  sons  of  former  Presidents,  in  short, 
boys  gathered  from  all  walks  of  life.  And  it  was  offici- 
ally asserted  that  between  10,000,000  and  14,000,000 
would  have  gone  over  were  they  needed. 
In  addition,  while  America  had  expended  billions  of 
dollars  to  equip  and  man  her  own  army,  she  had  mean- 
time  fed    ruined    and    starving    Belgium    and    loaned 
billions  in  treasure  to  Russia,  Italy,  France  and  England. 
For  all  this,  when  the  day  of  reckoning  and  division  of 
spoils  came,  America  through  President  Wilson, protested 
that  she  wanted  nothing,  emphasizing  that  she  had  gone 
to  war,  not  for  conquest,  not  for  territorial  expansion, 
not  for  national  aggrandizement,  but  in  order  that  all 
nations,  great  and  small,  be  treated  equally  and  the 
world  made  safe  for  democracy. 

Abundant  proof  of  America's  sincerity  in  entering  war 
are  events  following  cessation  of  hostilities.  She  has 
given,  by  Congressional  enactment,  25,000,000  bushels 
of  wheat  to  starving  Russia,  has  gone  to  the  relief  of 
the  downtrodden  Jew  in  Ukrania  and  other  Central 
European  countries  and  has  given  most  generously  to 
famishing  hordes  in  China.  America,  of  all  countries, 
had  resources  ample  to  afford  these  reliefs.  In  Russia's 
case  the  gratuity  was  an  unparalleled  example  of  mag- 
nanimity, since  Russia  owes  the  United  States  millions 
upon  millions  of  borrowed  money,  which  in  all  human 
probability  she  will  never  pay.  As  a  finality  it  will 
probably  be  repudiated  upon  the  self  satisfying  ground 
that  there  was  no  Constitutional  authority  for  the 
borrowing  and  that  as  they  at  the  time  were  co-allies 

—  298  — 


World  War  with  America  it  was  simply  a  contribution  on  her  part 
At  Its  to  the  cause  of  the  Allies. 
Climax  Now    what   of    the    American  boy?    Patriotism    alone 


$ 


prompted  him.  He  was  inspired  by  that  beautiful 
poem,  entitled  "Your  Flag  and  My  Flag,"  written  by 
Wilbur  B.  Nesbit,  and  published  by  Volland  &  Com- 
pany of  New  York  City,  both  of  whom  have  given  per- 
mission for  it's  reproduction  here : 

Your  flag  and  my  flag 

And  how  it  flies  today, 
In  your  land  and  my  land 

And  half  a  world  away! 
Rose-red  and  blood-red 

The  stripes  forever  gleam, 
Snow-white  and  soul  white — 

The  good  forefathers'  dream; 
Sky-blue  and  true  blue,  with  stars  to  gleam  aright — 
The  gloried  guidon  of  the  day;  a  shelter  through  the  night. 

Your  flag  and  my  flag! 

To  every  star  and  stripe 
The  drums  beat  as  hearts  beat 

And  fif ers  shrilly  pipe ! 
Your  flag  and  my  flag — 

A  blessing  in  the  sky; 
Your  hope  and  my  hope — 

It  never  hid  a  lie! 
Home  land  and  far  land  and  half  the  world  around, 
Old  glory  hears  our  glad  salute  and  ripples  to  the  sound! 

Your  flag  and  my  flag, 

And,  oh,  how  much  it  holds — 
Your  land  and  my  land — 
Secure  within  its  folds! 
Your  heart  and  my  heart 
Beat  quicker  at  the  sight; 
Sun-kissed  and  wind-tossed — 
Red  and  blue  and  white. 
The  one  flag — the  great  flag — the  flag  for  me  and  you — 
Glorified  all  else  beside — the  red  and  white  and  blue. 

—  294  — 


i 


Primarily,  I  repeat,  it  was  the  boy's  love  of  home  and  World  War 
mother  $+  s+  At  Its 

AN  THE  GREATEST  OF  THESE  IS  MOTHER.  Climax 
<J  From  every  conceivable  angle  it  has  been  my  proud 
privilege  to  get  a  close  up  view  of  our  American  boy. 
/  SAW  HIM  AND  WAS  WITH  HIM  in  training 
camp  and  witnessed  his  untiring  application  to  drill 
and  discipline  and  then  his  unbounded  zeal  and  eager- 
ness to  cross  the  seas  and  get  into  action. 
/  SAW  HIM  AND  WAS  WITH  HIM  next  in  a  con- 
voy of  30,000  men  which  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  one  of 
its  angriest  moods,  a  convoy  which  holds  the  lamentable 
distinction  that  in  transporting  3,000,000  or  4,000,000 
American  soldiers  across  it  was  the  only  one  to  lose  a 
vessel  in  a  storm  when  five  hundred  brave  boys  went 
down  to  death  in  the  deep  off  the  north  coast  of  Ireland. 
/  SAW  HIM  AND  WAS  WITH  HIM  in  training 
camps  over  there. 

/  SAW  HIM  AND  WAS  WITH  HIM  at  battle- 
fronts  in  Belgium  and  France  while  war  was  in  its 
awful,  agonizing  throes  of  death. 
/  SAW  HIM  AND  WAS  WITH  HIM  in  twenty 
different  hospitals  in  France  and  England  whither  I 
went  to  have  my  wounds  looked  after. 
/  SAW  HIM  AND  WAS  WITH  HIM  when  the 
mighty  machine  of  the  Hun,  which  the  President  of 
France  only  three  weeks  before  had  thought  could 
carry  on  a  year  and  a  half  longer,  trembled  convulsively, 
crumpled  and  utterly  collapsed. 

/  SAW  HIM  AND  WAS  WITH  HIM  in  London  on 
November  11,  1918,  when  Armistice  was  announced. 
/  SAW  HIM  AND  WAS  WITH  HIM  (at  least  as 
many  of  him  as  returned)  when  as  the  Twenty -seventh 
New  York  division  he  triumphantly  marched  up  Fifth 

—  295  — 


t 


World  War  Avenue  inspired  by  plaudits  from  a  million  throats; 
At  Its  and  finally : 
Climax  7  SEE  m.M  AND  AM  WITH  HIM  now  in  the  peace- 
ful pursuits  to  which  he  has  returned,  typifying  the 
age-old  adage,  "Peace  hath  her  victories,  no  less  re- 
nowned than  war." 

HONOR  MOTHER  OF  AMERICAN  BOY  WHO 
WENT  TO  WAR! 

HONOR  AND  REVERE  MOTHER  OF  AMERICAN 
BOY  WHO  MADE  THE  SUPREME  SACRIFICE! 
Although  hostilities  ceased  four  years  ago, 
many  nations  are  still  actually  at  war  with  one  another. 
International  perplexities  exist.  Great  problems  are 
unsolved.  Happily  some  progress  toward  a  solution  of 
them  has  been  made. 

In  conclusion,  never  again  do  I  expect  to  seek  my 
pillow  in  sleep  that  there  shall  not  pass  through  my 
excited  brain  a  kaleidoscopic,  depressing  moving  picture 
of  stark  ruin  in  Belgium  and  France,  of  the  cemeteries 
I  saw  on  the  hillsides  with  row  upon  row  of  little  white 
crosses  which  mark  the  grave  of  the  American  boy 
"  gone  West." 

And  from  out  that  forever  ineffaceable  mental  picture 
there  arises  unbidden  the  pathetic,  still  unanswered 
question : 

HAS  HE  DIED  IN  VAIN? 
GOD  GRANT  IT  SHALL  NOT  BE. 
BUT  TIME  ALONE  WILL  TELL. 


s1- 

—  291  — 


Those  Who  Have  Passed  On 

IXCE  events  chronicled  in  the  foregoing 
}t  pages  occurred,  two  distinguished  enter- 
tainers of  our  editorial  group  and  one 
member  of  it  have  joined  "the  innumer- 
able caravan."  Strangely  enough,  too, 
all  died  of  heart  disease,  two,  suddenly. 
Mrs.  Humphrey  Ward,  whose  writings 
fascinate  and  charm  an  army  of  readers  the  world  'round, 
was  a  gracious  hostess  at  a  memorable  dinner  in  London, 
to  which  she  had  bidden  twelve  of  England's  most  prom- 
inent women,  and  at  which  she  delivered  a  speech  that  was 
a  classic.  Mrs.  Ward  died  suddenlv,  in  London,  on  March 
24,  1920. 

Edward  Ware  Barrett,  owner  of  the  Birmingham,  Ala- 
bama, Age-Herald,  died  in  a  swimming  pool  at  Birming- 
ham July  9,  1922. 

Alfred  Harmsworth,  otherwise  Viscount  Northcliffe,  gave 
numerous  dinners  at  which  were  statesmen,  diplomats 
and  great  men  in  different  walks  of  life,  besides  being  an 
associate  and  companion  of  our  party.  He  died  August 
14,  1922. 

In  the  world's  opinion,  Northcliffe  and  Ward  have  earned 
pedestals  in  the  niches  of  its  Hall  of  Fame.  To  us,  Mrs. 
Ward  is  a  sweet  memory,  a  kindly,  radiant,  gracious 
hostess,  whose  classic  address,  near  the  end  of  war,  upon 
America's  magnanimity  toward  Germany,  still  sounds  in 
our  ears;  Northcliffe,  strenuous,  brilliant,  courtly,  versatile, 
powerful,  yet  kind  and  whole-souled,  who,  notwithstanding 
the  overwhelming  cares  and  turmoils  of  war,  seemed  to 
find  his  greatest  delight  in  being  regarded  as  one  of  us,  a 
good,  all-around  man  of  the  newspaper  world. 

Edward  W.  Barrett,  of  our  own  party,  was  an  able, 
affable,  big-souled,  lovable  and  manly  man. 

Vale  and  fareivell ! 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


